Written in Crystal
by Accio Insanity
Summary: Harry sees something horrible in his crystal ball during his Divination class. What will he do, how will he cope? Should he save his enemy or leave his to die?
1. Written in Crystal

1

Harry tried to make sense of what he saw. It was too cloudy, unclear. He used the sleeve of his jumper to frantically clear away the dust trying to make the crystal ball clear. He braced himself as started to stare into the ball again. What was it? It looked like Malfoy Manor but it couldn't be, could it?

Flames licked up the sides of the great house, blackening the clean walls. The giant statues of magical beasts fell and crumpled, blackened by the fire. The tall towers at the corners of the manor seemed untouched in this battle of fire yet despite this they seemed frail and about to collapse. Harry shuddered; his forehead had a dull pain. He soon found out why. Above the manor came three black swirls of what looked like smoke, yet they moved like snakes through the air, twisting and looping as they approached the walls. Then came the collision. Splinters of wooden planks sprayed like a mini firework. As they fell, the shards caught fire and in turn set fire to other wooden objects below. The house was ruined. The black figures reappeared from the bowls of the house this time with two more swirls escaping from the fire each as dusty and dark as the other. High in the sky they made their final movements decorating the sky with what could only be the dark mark.

Harry focused back on the burning mansion. As parts of the manor collapsed, there in the crumbling doorway was the one thing that confirmed to Harry that this in fact was the Malfoy Manor. Draco.

A sweat broke over Harry's brow as he frantically searched the Divination classroom. There in the corner with his friends, Draco sat whining to his friends about how his father said that he wouldn't have to do Divination ever again. Harry couldn't breathe. He looked straight into the crystal ball, polishing it with is jumper sleeve again furiously. He just needed to scrape away the cloudiness.

There was no cloud though, just smoke, and as Harry stared deeper into the ball he saw more chilling scenes of Draco. He was bloodied and obviously injured. His leg jut out at a weird angle and whenever he moved his only method of travel was a slow movement with his arms out stretched and pulling the rest of his body up towards them. Draco left a trail of blood behind him as he slid across the floor. Harry could see that, in his bloodied hand, Draco carried a wand but it was snapped in two.

"Ah, Harry! What is it you see?" shrieked Professor Trelawney in her usual nutty tone.

Harry jumped at her voice. He started to talk, choking on his words. "I… I see fire." Harry made the rash decision to lie, "Dra-… And a girl."

"Ah! The fiery passion of love, Mr Potter excellent work," Professor Trelawney squealed, "Who is it, who is it!"

The whole class burst into laughter, Harry gazed over his shoulder, Draco was sneering. Harry felt a little part of him die inside, he had just seen Draco so very close to death and by the looks of it, it hadn't happened yet. Harry was going to have to keep a close eye on him this year.

Harry felt a hand lightly pat his shoulder. Hermione. Who else would want to comfort him so much? He glanced at Ron on his left who was laughing louder than anyone in the room. So Harry went on, "I think, it's not too clear but, I think it might be Bellatrix Lestrange." Harry fake gazed into the ball, "There's Death Eaters! Three of them… and two more."

Trelawney drew back, looking as though she were gasping for air. Her jaw shuddered uncontrollably. "He's back. Harry tell me, Harry speak to me."

Harry didn't say a word. He just gazed off lost in a world of troubles. It wasn't entirely true, Bellatrix wasn't there, but the others were. He looked around behind him. Draco wasn't even looking in his direction but the recent news hadn't seemed to affect him. He looked sideways to his group of Slytherin friends and laughed sarcastically.

Harry jumped to his feet glared at Professor Trelawney and scanned the faces in the room before he stormed out, trying not to stamp too loudly. He shut the heavy door behind him and as soon as he was sure nobody was following him, he ran.


	2. Place of Refuge

Sprinting through the corridors, Harry tried to think of the only place where he could be alone. He had to think, clear the words from his head and just see the pictures.

He was sweating now and panting loudly as he ran aimlessly through the corridors. Bounding up and down staircases and diving under tables or around corners to hide from the random stray Prefect.

Eventually he reached the Gryffindor dorm room by chance. I stood panting as he waited for the slow moving lady to re-enter her frame. He whispered the password to the fat lady who opened the passage way with a silent gentle smile. Harry slipped through the small opening, quickly scanning the room before he dared to move.

The portrait clicked closed behind him. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he slowly noticed that the dorms were completely empty. It wouldn't be empty for long though.

Somebody was bound to come looking for him. Ron, and not to mention Hermione, always worried about him and lately Harry had been keeping secrets from them.

Harry sprinted up to his four-poster bed and rummaged through his Gryffindor chest. Only one thing was going to help him now; the invisibility cloak.

He sank to the floor, leaning against his chest which creaked with his weight. There was no possible way that he could hide here without being caught.

Tears began to stream down his face as he covered his body with the velvety cloak. He sobbed uncontrollably, occasionally pausing to take a loud gasp for air and to wipe away the moist, salty tears. With each tear came a sharp pinprick of pain that made Harry rub his eyes uncontrollably.

Under the cloak he felt safe from the world, safe from judging eyes. He was safe but they could still hear him and Harry realised this instantly as somebody walked into the room. Ron.

"Harry, I know you're in here. Don't be a git. People are looking for you."

Harry stayed silent but stood where he was, "You don't know what I saw Ron," Harry whispered. Harry moved silently and skirted the wall of the room.

"So tell me."

Harry gave a frustrated sigh, making it as loud as possible. He wanted Ron to know that he wanted to be alone.

"Harry." Ron scoped the room for any sign of his friend.

"You have no say in this Ron." Harry slipped out of the room and proceeded down the stairs to the common room. He could hear Ron attempting to talk to him back near his bed but he would not get an answer.

Harry knew where to go now, somewhere where nobody else could enter; the chamber of secrets. He was the only one who could speak parseltongue and just as well. He could hide.

Harry was running down the stairs again. This time he was burdened by his invisibility cloak. He kept tripping when he stepped on it.

The requirement of a place to hide far outweighed the risks of falling. Harry skidded into the final corridor. It was filled with bustling students, some of which were from his divination class, and there, standing in the corner was Draco Malfoy, laughing his head off.

"Potter's missing? Ha! Best I've ever heard. The little prat was always getting on my nerves. With any luck Voldemort's got him!"

"What if he doesn't?" A voice called in the crowd. Harry stood on his toes and tried to peer over the bustling crowd. But no matter how tall he stood, He could not see the owner.

"And if he doesn't, we'll get him!" Draco snarled proudly.

Harry swerved through the crowd, standing right in front of Draco now, staring into his eyes. Tears started to cascade down his cheeks once again. "I have to save you."

Draco lifted his head and became serious, "Did you hear something?"

Harry ran before he heard the answer and skidded into the girl's lavatory. He shed his cloak and let it fall to the floor.

Turning the taps he washed his face to make the tears go, but with every splash his eyes became redder and more painful. He leaned on his hands on the edge of one of the sinks. Harry felt shivering start to quake through his spine. It was like someone had grabbed it and just started to shake. And then the tear exploded from his eyes and what was once just a sob was now a breakdown.

He let out a few pained words in parseltongue.

"Right foul git, he is." Harry recited to himself before letting himself slide down into the chamber. He made his way through the doors until he reached the chamber itself. Here he collapsed in a shivering pile on the cold, hard ground surrounded by the skeleton of a basilisk.

The invisibility cloak lay at his side, unneeded while Harry lay quivering with now silent tears. His one enemy was now the person that he had to stay near the most. He uncurled himself and rose to his shaky feet. Trembling as he walked toward the head of the beast that he was encircled by. He took one of its giant teeth into his hands, passing it back and forth between them. Finally it hesitantly rolled into his right hand and Harry started to hack away at his left arm.

He wrote words, foul words, about his friends, teachers and enemies, until they no longer looked like words. His arm was raw and bloody. Tears running down his face collided with the broken flesh making the blood seem to race faster.

Harry raised the tooth for one final hit. "Harry. Stop!" There was a boy standing behind him.


	3. Stained White Marble

"Harry! Stop!"

The voice was so familiar, but whose? Harry resisted the urge to turn around and firmly planted his feet where he stood, straightening his spine and creasing his brow.

The voice seemed as though it should be familiar but it definitely didn't belong to anyone that he knew well. In fact, Harry didn't know many people's voice without the face. Harry wanted to ask who it was but he would seem a fool if he did. So he ran.

It seemed like he was running everywhere today. He started when he was threatened to tell a terrifying truth to Draco in front of Professor Trelawney and the rest of the class. Then he ran here for refuge. Now he was running through the maze of the basilisk's skeleton to find his discarded invisibility cloak.

He slipped the shimmering cloth over his shoulders and flicked the back over his head as though it were a hood. He dodged his way around the basilisk bones and climbed into one of the nearby statues mouths, sitting silently. He couldn't see the boy that had spoken to him. He was probably standing somewhere amongst the bones having followed him there.

"Harry. I-I just want to talk to you." Harry racked his brain. Who is the school had a stutter. Professor Quirrell did, back in first year. Dumbledore had banished him though; no, this had to be a student.

"No." A mistake on Harry's part. A hand grasped his arm and pulled him from the safety of his hideout. He hit the floor hard. His world started to spin as he tried to get the invisibility cloak back over his legs. There were blurs of limbs as they came into collision with his body. But Harry could not see the face of the boy.

"What did you see? Tell me what you saw!" The boy yelled at Harry. He pulled at Harry's cloak and injured arm.

He finally kicked the boy away. "No." He started to run again with tears and blood smearing his face. He weaved his way between the statues, avoiding the water to his left. His footsteps were too loud to hide him fully but the invisibility cloaked him enough from the sight dependant boy.

"Run as much as you want Potter but it won't take long for me to find you." He spat.

"I can keep running." Harry lied. He wasn't going to be able to run for much longer. His lungs had started to fail gathering oxygen and threatened to stop working altogether. His left arm was oozing thick red blood and Harry started to feel dizzy. He had to find a place to hide. A new place; far away and out of reach.

He skidded on the wet surface to the giant marble face of Salazar Slytherin. Harry found the foot hold that he had used to climb it in his second year at Hogwarts. His feet slipped at various stages where chunks of marble had been smashed away. Half way up the sculpture, Harry turned to face his adversary. The boy was nowhere to be seen but Harry aimed still higher, climbing to the scalp of the marble-carved Salazar Slytherin.

"Harry!" The voice begged. He was some distance below Harry but it was obvious that he had begun to climb after the slight sounds that Harry had made.

He crawled to the tip of the giant bald head and peered across the chamber. His throbbing arm encouraged his to look down. It was still bleeding, slower, but sure enough it was staining the white marble. He didn't dare move his cloak to cover it.

His hands slipped suddenly on the slimy surface and his feet gave way underneath him. Harry was now frantically scuttling in his cloak, trying to get a foothold on the smooth, shiny marble. Yet, there was no need for his efforts because behind him stood the boy that had chased him into the chamber.

He looked so strong, so powerful, yet Harry suspected that he was crumbling inside, and his actions would not be his own. He wasn't cursed and he wasn't being hateful. He was scared.

"Please, just don't hurt me." Harry whimpered.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Just hold out your hand I'll help you up," said the still unidentified male.

"I don't trust you, I never will. I don't even know who you are!" Harry admitted loudly.

"Please!"

Harry despised this man. He had beaten him and chased him, demanded and now he expected Harry to trust him. He knew better than that, all these years of facing the Dark Lord, Harry had learned who to trust and who to be wary of. Nevertheless, Harry's hand shot out from beneath the cloak, waiting for the velvety touch of skin on skin.

Harry's feet slid as they shuffled to get a grip on the surface. He groaned, half from exhaustion and half from fear as he slid down the circumference of the white-marble head of Salazar Slytherin. His hand stayed out stretched as he inched unintentionally away from the figure who had promised to be his saviour.

The boy leaned over to grasp the Harry's bloodstained hand and spat, "Potter. Uncover yourself."

Harry's movement stopped briefly, allowing him to see one minor detail that gave away the boys identity. Blonde hair. "Draco?" Harry threw off the cloak; a hand squeezed him and yanked at his arm. Harry felt as though his arm was about to be pulled out of its socket but when the pulling stopped he jumped at the opportunity to speak first. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"Tell me first! I know what you saw; I just need to hear it from you." All movement stopped, even the soft trickle of water seemed to silence, as they watched the cloak fall to the ground in a sparkling crimson wisp.

Their heads whipped around to meet each other's gaze.

Harry was silent, his mouth hung open, stunned. The Slytherin boy was crying. Tears stained his pale white cheeks and his soft blue eyes gleamed with red.

"I saw it too. You saw me."


	4. High Above Them

The two boys lay down side by side where the young Ginny had once slept. They stared at the high ceiling and slowly examined the intricate shapes that shimmered high above them. High above the ceiling, students would be searching for them. Hermione and Ron would be going ballistic. Harry knew it would be worse once he had remembered how his last conversation with Ron went. It was angry and irritated and it would have definitely struck trouble with Ron and Hermione.

Harry wondered about Draco's friends. Who were they? He could guess that every single one of them were so called 'purebloods' and the majority would have to be Death Eaters by now. But who were they? Harry had no idea what their names were. There were two that he remembered vaguely, Crabbe and Goyle, maybe both, but he was sure that one had died or something. Harry resumed his vacant thoughts and stared deeply into the ceiling.

Neither of the boys dared to speak, or rather neither dared to speak first. Thoughts had filled their unsteady heads, swirling and beating. Some were angry, so raged that their thoughts shook and quivered, overbearing the rest yet they all seemed to step back when the boys tried to calm themselves. Some were louder than others but they all pointed to two simple questions; how and why.

Finally Draco spoke, "why won't you speak to me?" His voice was barely audible over the almost silent trickling of water.

Harry remained silent but raised his good arm and ran his fingers through his sweaty hair. He let out a loud sigh rolled onto his side so that Draco could not see his face that had started to twist into ragged tears.

Harry felt the boy's frustration. Draco had groaned, stood and started to pace the room, following the cracks in the stone floor. Despite Draco's claims that he had no intention to hurt Harry, with his clenched fists and almost in-audible muttering, he seemed to want to do it now.

Harry spoke in a quiet voice, almost whispering, "I saw you, in your mansion." He paused and took a breath, willing the tears away. "It was on fire, everything was, even the statues. Your parents left with others. They were like smoke. But you… You were trapped at the door, crawling away from the flames. I-I think your leg was broken and you were burnt, bleeding." He massaged his temples roughly, trying to remember, "Your wand! It was snapped, splintered, broken... Trapped."

Harry looked over his shoulder silently, Draco was pacing, each step hit the ground with a slap, Harry wasn't even sure if the Slytherin was listening to any word that left his lips for eyes were focused on one spot in the distance; the basilisk head.

Harry knew his intentions instantly, "Draco, don't," he murmured but as the boy started to edge closer to his target Harry, with his stomach sinking with every step that Draco took, raised his voice and warned, "do you want to turn out like me?"

He wanted to yell louder than his voice would let him. He drew masses of air into his lungs to scream at the boy, but he was stopped when Draco spun around angrily and started to spit words at him, "you don't even know Potter! You don't even know. You think everything is bad because you don't have any parents and Voldemort is after you. Oh, because the Dark Lord hates you, you and only you. Everything is bad isn't it? It's not! Really, it's not. You have Dumbledore, you have Lupin, you have Mcgonagall and you have friends! And they all are going to protect you from us, the death eaters, Voldemort and whoever the fuck else comes your way!" Then he growled in anger. "You have everything. You are safe."

"But-"

"No, none of that. Please. You can't argue because there is nothing to argue about. Harry, I am not safe. If I just step one inch out of line I'm dead, but it won't even take that! They are already watching me, threatening me, even hurting me. Fucking hell. You don't have parents, boo hoo! Go cry, whatever. But just remember that while your parent died to save you out of love, my parents' one wish is to kill me, especially after what I did! Voldemort won't trust me ever again and he's got the whole damn death eater army hunting for me!" Tears cascaded down his pale face.

"Dra-" But harry was interrupted again but Draco's wailing.

"J-Just don't ok. Harry… I-I-I don't think I can do this on m-my own." His deep voice shook and crumbled as he attempted his confessions. "C-can you… SHIT!" He stamped his foot and grabbed his wand from his pocket and pressed the hawthorn wood deep into his own flesh.

"Draco. Draco!" Harry whispered, throwing his arm out to knock away Draco's wand.

"T-they want t-to kill me, Harry… k-kill me." Draco was reduced into a shaking fit or tears at Harry's feet.

"I didn't know. I didn't…" Harry patted his blond hair and paused in a sudden realisation of what had been said "Has it already happened? What I saw, I mean."

Draco paused staring into his eyes with his sad, blue eyes. "No. And I don't know when it will." His voice wavered as he spoke.

Harry sighed and continued stoking Draco's silky hair. There was a long silence between the boys before Harry gained the courage to speak again. "How did you get in here?"

Draco had calmed down by now and was ready to speak again. Raising to his feet his voice got angrier and more agitated with every word. "You ran from Divination and all I could do was tease you, then I looked over into you crystal ball and there it was. Written in crystal! The crystal never lies Harry! I know you know that. And I knew you'd go straight to your invisibility cloak. To get away from me! And in the hallway…" Draco's eyes shot wide open, he looked startled by what he was saying. Harry raised his eyebrow, forcing the boy to go on. "I-I could smell you…"

Harry breathed out heavily and ran his fingers through his hair, feeling embarrassed, "I should wear more deodorant. Sorry…"

"It's not that bad…" The hesitation and awkwardness subsided and Draco felt more confident than ever, he smiled now, "I knew where you were going to go when you passed me in the hallway. I just assumed that someone had found you and you wanted to be alone. But your never alone Harry. These walls are full of voices, the pipes even," looking Harry strait in the eye he gave a wicked smile. "I know the words Harry, I'm not in Slytherin just because I'm evil" He puffed out his chest proudly, "the snakes, Harry, love me."


	5. Shrieking in the Shack

_This one's a bit shorter that before but please read to the end _

_thanks :)_

* * *

><p>Harry had been avoiding Draco for a week now. In fact, he had been avoiding everyone and all of his classes. He had soon realised that Draco would get into the Chamber of Secrets to try and squeeze information out of Harry, so he had made a small migration to the shrieking shack.<p>

Here he would be all alone until that one night a month when Lupin would come down to transform into his werewolf form. With Snape away on Hogwarts business in Durmstrang Institute there was no new potions for Lupin. But until that time came Harry planned to hide safely in his den. That is, until one morning Hedwig arrived with post.

The letter had fluttered down into his lap while he was reading an old, dusty book about water-based creatures of the magical words, specifically those found in the Black Lake that surrounded most of Hogwarts. Harry cast the fat book aside to read his letter. Turning the envelope over it read:

_Harry Potter,_

_Where ever he may be_

Hedwig had certainly found him despite the sender not knowing where he was. He rushed to open the letter. Then, subconsciously patting the soft feathers on Hedwig's stomach, he read the short note.

_Harry,_

_Where are you? Dumbledore's sent a search party of students to look for you around the castle. You left your invisibility cloak behind. Please, just come back._

_Hermione _

"Should have known..." Harry muttered brushing the dust off of his pants. "Tell her… but you can't… stupid owls." Hedwig fluttered her wings and flit away into the early morning sun.

Harry rolled up the sleeves on his shirt. His arm was badly scarred; no magic that he knew could get rid of this. Some of the nasty words that were carved into his skin still flamed bright, painful red. They were readable and even when Harry observed his arm through a mirror in the dim, dusty light, they stood out.

He covered himself again, dreading the day when he forgot about the scars and any nosy someone could read his thoughts. Harry knew exactly who this someone would be but it wasn't Hermione. Although she was a very nosy kind of person there was one other person who was worse. Draco. Violence was his key to getting information and it was always the way, pain and torment and everything far away from a civilised conversation.

As much as Harry denied it, he couldn't hide forever. At some point, what little for he could find in the boundaries of the house would perish and he would have to leave and venture back to Hogwarts.

And it didn't take long for that to happen. Harry's week of blissful solitude was over and he was yet again forced to face the cruel adventures that appeared before him. At least this time Voldemort wasn't about to jump out at him from behind a dark corner. Harry felt sure of this, so sure that leaving the shrieking shack wasn't as hard as he had anticipated.

There was one thing that absolutely terrified Harry as he crawled through the decaying root system of the Whomping Willow. It raced through his mind faster than he had have managed to fly on his Firebolt. What was Draco going to say when he saw Harry again?

It appeared as though Hermione had figured out where he had been hiding out. The narrow entrance to the secret passageway was blocked by a soft, glittery piece of material; of course, the invisibility cloak. "A note?"

And it read:

_I'm saving you yet again, even after death_

_Sirius._

"I don't need this." Harry squirmed out from the twisted roots and rolled swiftly from the flailing branches. He left the invisibility cloak hung in the entrance to the Whomping Willow

At the foot of the hill, Harry found himself laughing with no particular reason, just laughing. He cackled and scoffed until the noise failed to leave his lips. Far above him, the castle would be busy with shuffling feet, bustling to their morning classes.

The noise emitted from Harry's lips was so immense that Hagrid's nearby Magical Creatures class heard. Concerned by the noise, a class of at least 20 first year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students rushed to his aid. The rest of the day was a blur of noise and claustrophobia.

Harry's blissful week of silence was abruptly ended with Madam Pomfrey's gritty voice saying, "This might sting a bit," as she waved her wand over his scared arm.

When Harry awoke from his slumber it was half past midnight. As far as he could tell he was alone again but this time the silence was eerie and uncomfortable. He thrashed around under his sheets and eventually freed an arm and scratched around for his glasses and wand on the bed side table. He intended to escape but the table was bare. There was soft laughter from the corner. "You'll have to come over here to get them," a male voice whispered hoarsely.

"Just pass them here." Harry said sternly to the voice. In the darkness, the figure shifted towards Harry. He felt the warm touch of skin as his things were placed into his hands but also something that he didn't expect; the soft brush of lips against his.


	6. The Water Room

With his hands in Draco's Harry was led blindly through the dark corridors of Howarts. It was Draco in the dark in the hospital wing but Harry wasn't quite sure who the kiss was from. Draco was strait, Harry was certain of it.

"Draco, who kissed me?" Harry tried to stay innocent.

"Shut up you fool. Do you want to be caught?" Draco's voice crackled with fear.

Then, almost instantly, quick footsteps approached followed by heavy wheezing and a tinkling bell. Filch and Mrs Norris. Draco swung Harry around a corner and pressed his back against the wall. Their chests lightly touched with Draco's hands still firmly grasping Harry's.

The footsteps had faded but the boys stuck still; half out of fear of being caught and half out of shock that the two enemies were so close yet so far away from hurting each other. Eventually Draco cleared his throat and moved away, resuming his previous bad temper.

Suddenly Harry was thrown to the floor. His bones cracked violently as he landed. Draco loomed over him and whispered harshly, "I can't have you see where we are going… Stupefy."

Harry's world went unbearably dark. It was cold in his unconscious state. He tried to shiver but he could not move, not his arms, not his head and not even his eyes, all he could manage was a broken rise and fall of the chest.

Through this dark world, Harry could hear the shuffle of Draco's feet on stone and the opening of doors and the frequent passageway.

In a flick of a wand Harry could move again. "Where are we?"

"Somewhere where the snakes slither from the ceiling in freedom and without a care in the world." Draco was feeling stubborn.

"Where?" Harry demanded.

"Don't worry, your dear Voldey won't be able to find you."

"Fuck Draco."

"I'm fine thank you."

Harry was fuming. "Just shut up. Sit down and tell me why we are here and where here is exactly."

"You've never been in this part of the castle? I would have thought you had. It's the most secret place I suppose. A sanctuary if you like."

"Where?" Draco was getting on Harry's nerves but Harry had to know about the kiss.

"This room doesn't have a name. I doubt old Dumbledore even knows about it. Old coot doesn't know anything. I suppose I'm the only one who knows about it, me and Oliver Wood."

"Wood? Why him? Captain of Gryffindor Quidditch team in our first year, nothing all that special."

"NOTHING SPECIAL! You can't tell me why Wood came back to all those Quidditch matches after he left? God Harry! You've been teasing me for what? 5 years or more. I thought it was because I'm – God you really are thick! You didn't even have a reason."

"Wait… What!" Harry paced where he was. The words were messed up, he must be hearing things wrong. He glanced beside him briefly scanning Draco's serious face. He wasn't lying. All this time Harry had though that Draco had just hated him but really he was the one who was being a dick. Harry had to set this straight but once again faced with awkward situations and possibly offensive outcomes he simply said, "I'm not…"

The two boys stood awkwardly together admiring the twisting shape of the ceiling and floor. At some points it seemed that the two became one but they soon twisted away from each other again. It was almost as if the two were moving, but with such energetic movements the room would have been noticed well before Wood's time.

No, the room was completely still. "I found this you know," Draco bragged, "I called it the water room because it looks like waves. I've been there once, you know, the ocean. My father didn't approve of course but it was stunning. I wanted to go into the water but father said it was for muggles and mudbloods. I just stood and watched them rolling. I could have been there for hours. Wood was the only one who understood. And I brought him here."

Harry gazed over the surface, it did look like waves, not that he'd ever seen them; Uncle Vernon always left him in his cupboard when they went on holidays.

"Guess where we are though," Draco was excited and eagerly awaited Harry's reply.

"I'm going to have to say that we are near the Chamber of Secrets. Honestly this place is really snake like."

"Nah, nowhere close. We're under the Black Lake. Snakes some here though. I talk to them a lot of the time. Real softies some of them."

"But that lake's got to be miles deep and it would be freezing down here at this time of year!" Harry lost his train of thought "… but you brought Oliver down here because you loved him…"

Draco nodded slightly, "This place is enchanted. The snakes made me do it." He turned to Harry and looked his strait in the eye, "Harry I thought you hated me because you knew I was gay. Turns out you just hated me. I know you and that Weasley girl are all romantic and such but I've seen those eyes you have whenever Lupin walks your way."

Harry gasped in air. It was like someone has knocked him hard in the chest with a club. He struggled to breath out of pure shock. Somebody had thought that Harry and Lupin were together. There was some reasoning behind this Harry supposed. They did spend quite a lot of time in Lupin's Chambers talking; mostly about his father and the werewolf issue. Harry wretched at the thought.

Draco crumbled into tears at his reaction; Harry never expected to be so disturbed by the sight. Slytherin and Gryffindor played no part in the games of love; no good, no evil, no power, just bad choices.

Harry slid down the smooth stone wall next to Draco and cradled him in his arms. "Draco, I promised to save you. I wouldn't care if you were Voldemort's son, I'd still save you because I don't want anyone else to die because of my mistakes."

"But you don't care about me. I tried," Draco sobbed, "I tried to make you care. I told you the truth. All you care about is killing fucking Voldemort." Draco cradled his head in his pale hands, rubbing furiously at the tears.

Harry tried to keep as calm as possible but even when he was in pain Draco got on his nerves. "I help everyone whether I know them or not. It's my fault that I haven't killed him yet but I don't know how, every time I get close my scar goes haywire and I can't see strait let alone think strait. Then someone comes to help me and they send him away for a little while and I feel safe but then reality sinks in. I owe them my life and I care, I really do. I just need to know that I can trust you not to turn your back on me and kill me yourself."

"Do you think I would? I've done nothing but be horrible to you and you've done the same. When have I ever earned this?"

"When you stopped me from killing myself in the Chamber."

Draco's head flew up to Harry's and their lips touched ever so slightly. Harry drew away and saw as Draco frantically search for his wand. Finally, his fist flew through the air and without resist Harry took the blow to his temple and dropped to Draco's feet.


	7. Opposites become the same

_It's a short one and I know it's been a long time but I've got something good up my sleeve that I think you'll enjoy_

_Insert hopeful face_

* * *

><p>Later that night Harry woke from his fitful nightmare. Sweat beaded across his forehead and slid down his nose. Heat blazed and prickled beneath his skin but it was nothing compared to the utter confusion he felt.<p>

He looked towards his night table. Here, his belongings lay motionless where Madam Pomfrey had placed them; his glasses glinted at him in the light of the moon and yet they seemed less real than his dreams of Draco.

He rolled, flicking at his bed covers which curled around his arms, squeezing him like a boa constrictor. The more he fought the tighter they wove around his body. Harry saw it best to stop moving.

He resumed his previous position on his back a stared at the dark shadow in which Draco had concealed his form.

This was when Harry realised the horrifying truth of his situation. As much as it was denied, it wasn't Draco who wanted Harry at all but quite the opposite. Harry longed for his enemy's weakness and the soft brush of lips and skin that he dreamt of and it was the realisation that hit him like a train that hurt the most.

All Harry could hear were the ever increasing cold words that Draco had left him with in the chamber, "The snakes, they love me" he had said. Harry shivered at the thought. Draco had known about Harry's ability to speak parseltongue almost all of his schooling years but now, in Harry's final year of school, Draco had revealed secrets, secrets that were so evil and dangerous.

It was true though. Harry did love his enemy and Harry did have to save his enemy that he just recently fell in love with. He had to tell Ron. Now.

Betraying him was one thing but when you betrayed Ron you were in for it. Spells, curses, you name it and he would do it as long as Hermione didn't cut in, he would keep hitting you until you fell. Harry had seen him do it in the summer holidays before last to Ginny's old boyfriend when he harmed her. Bang, Bang, Bang! And the poor boy was on the floor, spewing fish for hours and hours with bruises covering is entire body.

"Here goes…" Harry thought as he ripped himself from the covered and started plodding towards the Gryffindor tower.

Careful not to make too much noise he climbed the last set of stairs as they swung around to the portrait. "Mungus Mopawk" whispered Harry into the fat lady's ear and she swung open just wide enough to allow Harry through.

Silently he slipped through the darkened common room and then BOOM! Harry walked right into something solid. His glasses flew off his face and his hands clutched the object infront of him, steadying himself.

"Let go you creep!" A girl, it had to be. Harry racked his brain for who it might be but did not let go of her. She pushed him to the floor, she was stronger than most girls.

"Ginny?" Harry said squinting through the dark and the blurriness of his surroundings, his hands sweeping the floor.

"H-Harry! My God! What happened? I didn't know what was wrong. No one would tell me what had happened! T-they said you got back into the chamber and T-Tom Riddle was there. HARRY SPEAK TO ME!"

She was hysterical and loud and it made Harry wince at the piercing tone of her voice. Half angry and half scared, Harry raised his wand and before he could think the words had passed his lips. "Obliviate".

"What? Hey! What did you do to my sister?"

"Oh fuck!" It was Ron. The fiery red hair matched the colour of his face. Fury. He knew what Harry had done. "Ron, Ron! Trust me she would have died if I didn't. I-I let slip what happened in the chamber." Harry backed slowly away, forgetting his glasses.

"So… What did happen Harry?" He was fuming. If it was possible, he would catch fire without the use of magic just through anger.

"Draco… and… and…" He had to, what else could he do but lie, "Tom."

Ron drew breath. It was a cold, terrified breath. And just like that the anger had gone. "He stole her once, why come back again?"

"He want to kill me, and Ginny because to tell you the truth, her getting away didn't make him too happy."

"Wait! You said something about Draco."

Here was the moment of truth, the only truth that would come out of Harry's mouth this evening, "Draco is in danger Ron, and I know he's been horrible to us but really I don't want anyone else dead in my name. He's done something. And Voldemort hates him. I think maybe, just maybe, he's on our side now."

"Come again?"

"We have to save Draco," and with these words Harry was reduced into tears. Love, hate. They were so opposite but so the same. "We have to save Draco"

18


	8. Truth is Told

Both Harry and Ron stood shivering outside the girls toilets for an hour.

"How long is she going to be," exclaimed Ron stamping his feet to try and preserve the feeling in them. "How long did it take last time?"

She was in there with Moaning Myrtle gathering information, gossip rather, on the Malfoy family. Harry was more nervous than Ron, less nervous about the information that she wouldn't get that the information that she would get. Surely the main source of gossip for the trio knew of Harry's newfound obsession with everything to do with Draco.

He shivered at the thought. "Yeah, it's really cold," Ron muttered, "Hurry up Hermione." He was banging on the door now.

Another few minutes past and then came a choir of giggles from the two gossipers. Shortly after, Hermione entered the hallway.

"What? What did you find out?" Ron asked with anxious excitement.

"She told me some very interesting information," she glanced briefly in Harry's direction. She knows. Fuck.

Stupid me with my stupid ideas to go speak to stupid Moaning Myrtle, harry thought to himself.

Ron was frowning at Harry, "What's wrong with you now?"

Quick, think of something to say, Harry thought racking his brain again. "I'm just scared that someone else is going to die in my hands."

It was finally Hermione's turn to speak, "So here's what she told me…" she drew breath, "Draco is hiding some kind of secret that involved his mother and someone else that he wouldn't say. Some kind of bond apparently, that was sort of like an unbreakable vow, or at least involved one. He was speaking to Blaze when Myrtle listened in. He told him this. In his exact words."

She began to recite the words that Myrtle had fed to her, word for word. "Blaze I have something to tell you. No, just shut up, you don't get a say. I was kicked out of home a month before school started. Can I come stay with you?"

The she paused, "Blaze said something like what did you do and I was expecting girls or something, he's attractive you know." Harry did know. "But he said this: I walked in on something I shouldn't have, I told my father and he said I lied and he gave me this." She drew a stuttering breath and looked between Harry and Ron not making eye contact. "Harry, Ron. He pulled up his shirt and from what Myrtle described; he was given wound that never heals. Fresh as the day he got it she said. Still glistening."

Harry gasped. He's hit Draco's side numerous times in his fight to escape. If he had realised… but of course that was silly, Harry still hated him until he was in the hospital wing, didn't he? Would or not, Harry still would have struck hard.

Ron waddled away, waving behind him as if to say, "I give up" and "bye".

Hermione watched him fall out of her sight before singing around to face Harry nose to nose. "So then, you going to tell me what I already know?"

Harry stood silent and stunned like a deer in headlights until she folded her arms sternly across her chest. "Fine! Fine, just stop looking at me like that. I think…" He took a second to steady himself, "I think I might love Draco."

With the force of a charging rhino, Hermione swung her skinny arms around his neck and pressed herself close. They stood in the corridor in silence until Hermione let five words slip from her lips, "It's ok, I knew already."

"How long?" Harry whispered back.

"Since divination."

"No, not at all, it was just recent." Harry glanced up and down the corridor, "That divination class is when I saw what was going to happen." Hermione gasped.

They were running towards the Whomping Willow with no real plans but for Harry to confess his visions in the safety of its roots, protected by both the violent movements of the willow itself and the invisibility cloak which, with luck, was still hanging in the entranceway. They dived into the cave beneath the tree and were delighted to find the invisibility cloak right where Harry had abandoned it.

It was a long afternoon. Sitting in the cold damp confinement beneath the willow Harry confessed every detail of what he had seen in the crystal ball. "The crystal never lies unless I read it wrong, Hermione. I read it right, I know I did. There is no getting out of it."

"It's all written in crystal," Hermione mumbled deep beneath her breath, barely audible in the silence. Raising her voice she said, "What happened in the chamber?" Harry hesitated and forced his eyes to avert their gaze from Hermione's. "Harry." She said more firmly.

"A lot…" He had planned to stop there and leave Hermione with the information that she had but her cold eyes didn't move, didn't even blink. "He attacked me first" His eyes flicked to his arm, "And then he talked, cried even. He's scared, and I am too."

"Aww you're not even going to tell her the best part?" Draco's voice wafted into their earshot forcing their gaze to shoot up to where he sat in an elevated nook in the wall, the invisibility cloak at his feet. His eyes glowed red. He'd been hiding down here for a while, perhaps crying.

And then Hermione said something that startled Harry, "Hey Draco," or rather it was the way she said it that startled him. She was just so cool and calm like this had all been planned.

But of course it had been; Hermione had known for a while about Harry's secret, well not so much anymore, love for Draco, even before he had known himself. Was this some sort of trap? One ready to unfold and crush what Harry had thought he had known all along? The answer was yes.

"Harry, Draco was in the bathroom chatting to Myrtle when I walked in. We had a nice chat."

"Why does everyone know things that I don't know? And more importantly why do they all involve me?" Harry was at the point of crying again from confusion more than anything else. Everybody was making plans around him that involved the most confusing people and circumstances.

"Shut up Harry, you know we only want to help." Why must she be so firm with her words? "Draco, I think it's time you showed him. Don't you?"

Draco bowed his head slightly, slipped off his ledge and stepped out towards the pair. "Don't run," he warned as he started to shift his shirt from around his side. Here was found bandages, bloodied almost completely though, Harry opened his mouth in amazement, "Simple cleaning charm…" Draco mumbled in reply to the unasked question. Draco proceeded, dropping his shirt by his ankles, to unwrap the bandages.

Suddenly Draco flinched and turned his wound away from Harry. A frown stained his forehead, "Um…" He flicked his wand frantically at the bandages, charming them to clean themselves. "Harry, Hermione, please don't take offence," He looked between the pair.

Draco turned slowly with his hands pressed hard into his wound, covering it completely. His eyes darted from face to face but never made eye contact. His feet shuffled nervously as they tried to gain proper foothold. Finally he sighed. Slowly he removed his hands, sliding them across his belly, smudging the blood. The wound lay just above the waist of his pants and the word carved into his flesh stood out clear as day.

"I'm not helping you," Hermione whimpered.

21


	9. Words That Should Never Be Spoken

The words seemed to screech with the force and effect of a mandrake. They felt like a knife to your side and a stone to the side of your head. They stung, they bit, they ached. The words were pain itself.

Harry's stomach lurched and he gagged. Horrible sounds left his mouth, it was as if someone was hitting repeatedly in the stomach. Hermione was long gone. She quivered in the corner, inconsolable and irretrievable from her fear and hatred. Draco. He was different. He was quiet and although his eyes were pooled with regret, he was unexpectedly calm.

Harry lurched again, this time losing his lunch but finally coming to terms with what he saw.

"You're a-"

But he couldn't say it; or rather he didn't want to. Draco started to speak but with his eyes full of tears, his voice crackled and faded. Unable to make a sound he slowly and subtly nodded his head.

His eyes stuck down at his waist, reading and rereading the words. They were so definite, so certain but so surreal. His hands slipped back over the oozing cuts. He pressed them in and tried to scratch away the letters but it was no use, his actions just made him cry out in pain.

"H-he told me what I was," His voice was high and squeaky as he tried to speak through the tear. He sobbed and fell to the floor, "My f-, my fath-, m-my… Damn it!" Father, he could say the word. "but he's not is he? I thought I knew, I thought… But everything I thought is wrong now." Draco's muscles quivered violently, "I'm a mudblood."

All the words did were ring throughout Harry's mind, producing questions that were by no means to be asked in these circumstances. Mudblood. He had used that as an insult for so long and now finally he knew what it was like, but of course that was a horrible thing because for Draco, it meant that he was in mortal danger.

Nobody spoke for what seemed like an eternity. The once light, midday sky had turned into a stormy night and the three knew that the dinner feast had begun. Alas, they saw it good to stay put and not raise a multitude of questions. Harry could hear them now. Why are you crying Harry? Why do you smell like sick Harry? Are you drunk Harry? Where were you Harry? Why is Hermione crying, Harry? Did you do something to her Harry? People were annoying.

Mudblood. Mudblood. What else was there to think about apart from this. Finally a quiet, struggling voice spoke, "Who was it?" Hermione's voice asked.

Harry glared at them both, not from spite or hate but of genuine concern.

Draco wiped the last tears from his eyes and still stuttering he answered, "He didn't say. I don't know. I just heard them arguing about what they were going to do about me, my mother 'nd-and him. They said they have to send me away. And then the fucking idiot I am walked in and he went insane."

Harry cringed at the thought of what happened next. Spells, anger, muggle fighting, you name it. His eyes widened, "Has it happened already? The things in the crystal ball."

"No."

It was still up to Harry to do too much.

In blurs of movements she was on top of him. She had pinned him down with her legs over his arms and sitting on his chest. Her wand was pressed to his throat. "Don't you dare lie." Draco opened his mouth to speak, "Don't," she screamed, "Do you think you can just walk all over me because I'm a nerd and you can tease me and now you're off pulling stunts 'ey?

"Hermione, he's not lying," Harry sounded way to desire for his own good.

Draco just kept his eyes focused on hers, hoping for some kind of weakness. He knew that he was stronger and more capable than he was. He was weak in spirit and if it came to hurting someone she would do it and he would be off hiding in a corner out of cowardice.

"Hermione let him go."

"Worthless piece of shit." She punched him across his face and let him stand.

"You can't face something like this. Why would you anyway? No one finds it fun to literally carve words into themselves that deep and that horrible. They either do it for a reason or someone else does it. Either way he's not a pureblood anymore, and he never was."

"Trust you to think that. Standing up for your secret crush."

Harry quickly glances at Draco's face. It showed no emotions. _How can he not feel anything? He kissed me didn't he?_ Harry thought. And then he paused because he hadn't kissed Draco that night, he had kissed no one at all. He wasn't even awake that night apart from in vivid dreams concocted with his own imagination.

"It's what I know. You said yourself that it was written in crystal and we have to meet Draco there after he drags himself out of his own house, injured by his own parents and save him from death."

"You have to be there. Not me, not Ron. You. You alone."

"I know you care about me, even if you don't care about him."

There was another silence. Harry's world all so suddenly was becoming quieter and quieter; it was frightening.

Care, no care. Love, hate. Things were going wrong. Finally, Harry plucked up the courage to glance at Draco again only to find that Draco already had his eyes softy observing Harry.

"Quit it."

A cheeky smile crossed his face, "You love me," He said in a mocking tone, poking out his tongue.

Hermione groaned playfully, "If you two are going to do this, then I'm going to leave." And she did, almost instantly and then, when out of sight, called back to Harry, "I'll meet you up at the castle shall I?"

"Yeah." He responded taking his eyes off Draco for a second. He turned back to look at the boy.

And there he was right in his face, noses practically touching. Harry jumped. Draco smiled sweetly and then took a step backwards, "You're quite a peculiar looking person, you know? Really skinny, tall, green eyes." He smiled, "Cute arse."

"What?" Harry said raising his eyebrows.

" You heard. Sie haben einen schönen Arsch"

"Come again?"

"You have a nice arse. It's German."

"You speak German?" If his jaw dropped any lower, it would graze the floor.

"'Course, you think growing up with purebloods just means you get to prance about? I speak a bit of French too. Take your pick, which do you fancy?"

"You… I mean English." Harry purposely stumbled hoping that Draco would catch the hint that was being literally thrown into his arms.

Suddenly the world stopped spinning. A deafening scream came from without the Whomping Willow and not from the direction on the shrieking shack but from the school itself.

It was blood curdling and non-stopping, the noise just went on and on. And then the scream stopped and moments later a limp body was deposited in the crevasse leading into the Willow. It rolled clearly into the boys' view. Without even thinking they both knew who it was.

"Hermione." They said in unison.

24


	10. White Hot Metal

_This Ones a bit longer than the others. I hope you enjoy it anyway though_

* * *

><p>It seemed as though all of a sudden the sky broke. Rain started to trickle down into the cave washing over Hermione's still body as if it were little more than a pebble in its way. There was no break in her skin, no blood, no bruise, just a body perfectly intact.<p>

"That's the last of them from out here my Lord," screeched a voice that both boys knew only too well. The murderer of Harry's only known family member, even if he was just a god father and even if he had the Dursley's, it was the closest he's ever had to family. The Dursley's hardly counted anyway, they may be related but that doesn't mean family.

Neither boy dared to move from the safety behind the invisibility cloak.

Minutes past in silence, slipping by in fear. Draco cradled the violently shaking Harry in his arms. "Wait any longer and it would be too late to help her," he finally said.

She was cold, perfect as a picture, but so very cold to the extent that it felt inhuman. Harry ran his fingers across her skin frantically trying to remove the dirt. Her clothes were wet and almost transparent. Out of respect he covered her with his jacket.

"I don't think she's breathing," he finally said.

The boys sat in silent grief as equally silent tears cascaded down their cheeks, reddening their eyes again. Draco took to gagging just out of sight, shaking and crying has he did so. It was like something was pulling at his organ and trying to pull them out, but it hurt more to see Hermione like she was.

"Fuck. What do we do? How do we tell Ron? What will Ron do? What about her parents? What do we tell the school? What if she is alive?" Harry muttered, rocking back and forth.

"We either stay here and try help her or take her to the hospital wing, we have an invisibility cloak. We tell Ron nothing, he doesn't even see us. Her parents, and Ron, don't need to know until it's definite. We tell the school who did this to her, although I am sure they already know. I don't know if she is alive, but Madam Pomfrey will." Every single question, answered.

He was really getting on Harry's nerves. He had an answer for every little thing that anyone said. "Now is not the time to answer everything I say." He said though gritted teeth.

"Did you listen to what I said?"

"Yes." No.

Draco just moved over to the invisibility cloak, spied the area around the tunnel entrance and carefully removed it from where it was latched. At note fluttered down from the roots above. Draco's eyes followed it down to the ground.

In scrawled black ink read the words:

_I'm saving you yet again, even after death_

_Sirius._

"You should look at this," He said kicking it towards Harry and continuing with his delicate operation, moving the invisibility cloak over Hermione while still covering the two boys.

Harry read the note quickly and proceeded to rip it into shreds and cast them away. "Fuck you," he mumbled under his breath. "I should have known."

"But it's too late now. It'll all be alright though, if you help me. Lift her in your arms and we'll take her into the castle." Draco stood with his arms high in the air and a look of genuine concern on his face.

It was only logical to do what Draco told him to do but the paranoia that this was completely his fault made Harry work even faster. He hoicked her up into his arms and held her close as the invisibility cloak swept over the trio like a wave.

This thought made Harry jump. The ocean. In his dream Draco said he'd been once and how much he loved the waves. "Draco?"

"Mmm?"

"Have you ever been to the ocean?" He whispered as they started to move.

"Once, a long time ago but now is not the time to get to know each other."

Slowly the pair struggled out from underneath the Whomping Willow and lay flat on the ground to check for any stray flailing limbs. The massive tree was motionless. Harry looked up. They were completely safe from the Willow because to be in danger it had to have something to hit them with and through the dark and the rain, Harry could see that the limbs of the tree had been cut clean.

He nudged Draco's side, who looked up too. Seeing that it was safe, they stood, Harry repositioned Hermione in his arms and Draco made sure that the invisibly cloak covered everybody.

Their trek to the castle was unbelievably eventless. Not one person was found roaming the school grounds, not a student, not a teacher, not even a deatheater who should have been there patrolling the school.

The night was cold, and it was still raining lightly but it seemed to be subsiding. Rain. Rain makes mud. "Draco. Mud."

"Don't be a girl."

"No, Draco. The cloak can't cover the trail that we leave."

"The rain should clear up the tracks."

"Yeah, out here. But not in the castle."

"Crap." If this day could get any worse, or rather, could this day get any worse? It wasn't possible.

Oh but it was. As the boys charmed their feet, desperately trying to remove the dirt, a figure crept up behind them.

It was a different type of figure though, nothing like a human presence. And then it started. Harry's scar exploded on his forehead, burning like someone had dropped white hot metal above his eyes. He tried not to scream or make any noise at all, because in all truth, just a whimper would give them away.

All he wanted to do was put his hands up to his forehead but Hermione's soft body lay draped in his arms. All of a sudden he felt hands on his shoulders and Draco tore him backwards. He had seen what Harry could feel in his head.

Voldemort made his appearance. He seemed to glide above the ground, his long robes seemed to flow in the almost non-existent wind and his cold eyes stare straight though the boys. But that was stupid wasn't it? How could you see something that was invisible?

Hot on his heals came an excited Bellatrix Le Strange. She hollered at the top of her voice, "I killed Hermione," in her sing-song voice. The very same thing she did after she murdered Sirius.

Then Voldemort stopped dead in his tracks. Harry didn't dare breath. Face to face, nose to face, they stood. Harry focused on Voldemort's red eyes, watching him glare right through him.

The events that followed seemed to be in slow motion. Draco grabbed silently onto Harry's shirt back and started to pull, Hermione slipped gradually from Harry's hands and, most terrifyingly, Voldemort took a step forward.

Then the world set back into motion. The cool wind as Voldemort brushed past him made Harry shiver with violent fits of soundless pain. Laying still he waited until he saw He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named float gracefully out of sight. He could finally breathe again. And as a signal of relief, from behind him, Draco sighed and inhaled calmly. "Could it get any closer?" He whispered in Harry's ear humorously.

Harry turned to find Draco holding Hermione tightly to his side, slowly he stood and raised her gentle in his arms. "You looked puffed so I thought you might want to do invisibility checks."

"But I dropped her while you were pulling me."

"But I picked her up. Back to charming?"

And so they did, Harry charmed their feet and Hermione who was also dripping with mud again.

"How do we look?" Asked Draco, unable to see past Hermione to his feet.

"Handsome as ever."

Draco's face dropped for a second like he was thinking about something and then he beamed across at Harry. "I knew you loved me."

"It was a joke Draco. I'm not gay."

"Mmm. I believe you," Draco said sarcastically.

"Let's go." Harry surrendered to Draco's interrogations; he didn't have time or energy to fight back.

They entered the castle though the main entrance, with much protest from Draco; "It'll be too obvious," he'd say, to which Harry would reply, "We have an invisibility cloak. We're fine as long as we are quiet." And of course he was wrong. The main entrance hall was full of bustling people, students being escorted to places, teachers barricading doors and windows and more and more people just kept arriving but luckily, there was no sign of death eaters. After much hesitation, Harry decided to speak, the din in that hall should have been enough to mask the sound anyway.

"I think we need to take off the invisibility cloak."

"We can't, people will see!" Said Harry, raising his voice a little too loud.

"That's the point. We need to get Hermione help and quick."

"I say we don't need to expose ourselves in the open like this." He whispered back viciously.

"Draco. Really? It's so crowded in here and they're all so busy with their own things, I don't think they'll even notice."

"They are scared, Harry. They'll be so alert that they'd be able to hear a pin drop and they'd see it hit the ground." Harry despised Draco's exaggeration more than his willingness to correct everything that he heard.

"You don't know that." He snapped.

"You don't think I know what it's like to be scared?"

"Scared of what?" Harry was becoming more interested in Draco now than his surroundings.

"We don't need to have a personal get-to-know-you conversation right now, Harry?"

"Right. I'm moving this cloak now," said Harry stubbornly as he started to move the cloak.

Frantically Draco pointed out, "Do you want to put her in danger," as he bounced her a little in his arms.

"How else are we going to help her though? Standing here isn't going to help even the tiniest bit."

"I suppose it's going to have to be your choice, Potter." He paused for a second and then smirked, "Look at that, out first lovers spat, all over and resolved." He chuckled to himself merrily.

Harry thought for a second, completely missing Draco's claims that they were lovers. "I say we drop the cloak… but not here, off in a corridor or outside maybe and then we could walk in like we saved her."

"But we did save her."

Harry wasn't so sure. It was his fault. If he had listened to that note from Sirius in the first place, he wouldn't have let Hermione go out alone. He was hopeless. Ever since he found out Draco's fate things had been going horribly wrong. It just wasn't fair. He rubbed at his eyes furiously, wiping away sticky tears, trying to figure out what to do. But once again he was faced with a growing question that stopped him from answering. "Why me?" He mumbled almost in audibly. Then he cleared his throat and looked over to Draco who was intently awaiting a definite answer. "We come back through the doors, visibly."

And so they did. Standing outside the Main Entrance Harry grabbed on to the cloak, ready to pull it away. But the world stopped as a gravelly whisper came from behind them, "I wouldn't do that if I were you boys."

The two quickly whipped around, still invisible, to face the mystery voice.


	11. Lies and Truths

_So sorry about the gaps between chapters! I had exams. But I am on holidays so I will try to get more chapters up soon-ish!_

* * *

><p>They stood shocked, looking right into the eyes of their potions master, speechless but full of questions. Snape couldn't really see them could he? Draco elbowed Harry in the ribs gently and persuaded him back towards the door, lugging Hermione along in his arms.<p>

"Stop." Snape commanded, his eyes following their every invisible move. "I would expect that you of all people, Mr Potter, would know not to emit such noise when attempting to hide from the world by means of an invisibility cloak."

The potions master had always taken the longest way to explain something. Harry said nothing.

"Ah, I see you are trying to hide now. Quiet as a mouse but not quiet enough, if I must say." He snickered slightly and Draco took his slight loss in concentration to coax Harry through the door of the castle. Snape however swayed forwards, "Ahh, Malfoy. Your father won't be pleased with your atrocious behaviour," Draco paused as gulped slightly with tears welling in his eyes, "Aiding the enemy? Tsk, tsk, my boy. Come now, leave Mr Potter and prance on off and you won't be harmed in our… quarrel."

Draco shuffled silently and raised his wand from his pocket. "Now, now, Draco. No need for such matters." Snape straightened up slightly, "You may as well reveal yourselves, I know where you are, you can't get away."

Draco's eyes strayed nervously to Harry. He bit his lip harshly, causing a sting that would not disappear. Harry watched his lips, distracted by their movement, lingering there for a second before losing himself his Draco's beautiful blue eyes, welled with tears and bloodshot from crying. He too bit his lip. Finally they removed their vision and guided it back to Snape's harsh looking face.

Then the pain started again. Harry's forehead burst into what felt like flames, red hot flames, and as always, white hot metal dripped down his forehead and into his eyes. Through blurring vision he saw what he dreaded, a fate that he wished wouldn't come, death by Voldemort.

We're done for, he thought as the Dark Lord neared. Then something unimaginable happened. Snape slowly turned to face the vile creature that caused his parents' death, turning his back on the two boys. "We have searched the castle and cursed, possessed if you like, the remaining living professors, my Lord, but still we have no sign of Potter."

"A case I predicted well before we arrived Severus." Voldemort said slowly in his usual proud voice. "However… I did not come only for the boy, Severus. You see, there is something more, shall we say, valuable to me."

"My Lord?"

"To clarify, I am looking for another boy who could only be here. Lucius's boy, Draco. He," Voldemort paused and sniffed the air slightly with his snake like nose, "He knows something that I do not, vital information to finding Potter. Recruiting Draco, earning his boundless trust would be," He sniffed the air again mid-sentence, "invaluable."

Harry's hand silently swept to Draco's cheek. He pulled the teary-eyed face to look at him and pulled the other hand up to his lips.

Slowly he took Draco's bony shoulder and pushed him back slightly, ushering him towards the wall. Draco's heavy feet plodded backwards slightly too loudly and there was a crack as one of the heavy paving stones shifted beneath his left foot.

Draco winced harshly at the sound. I am responsible for two deaths tonight, he thought. But, with what seemed to recently become a sixth sense for the-boy-who-lived, Harry knew exactly what Draco was thinking. Despite this knowledge Harry stayed blank faced and pushed a little harder on Draco, now less encouraging and more forcefully moving him from the direct walking line of pure evil.

"Severus, I'd expect that you know my most important law and its consequent punishment if it is disobeyed in any way shape or form." Voldemort said calmly.

"My Lord, how could I ever forget."

"Yet it seems you have. Nevertheless, I will require you to recite it to me."

Professor Snape hesitated momentarily. "It requires every death eater and follower alike to provide you with truth and honesty and that one should not hide any piece of information."

"Ah! So you do remember. Now, Severus, what would be the consequence of disobeying this rule."

"Death." The word rang out true and clear, like a bullet shot on the most silent of days into the open air.

Voldemort took out his wand and held it to Severus's temple, "I suppose now would possibly be the best time to provide me with the information that I require."

With the inner murderer glowing in Voldemort's eyes and almost seeping from his pores, Snape had no choice but to speak what little information he had. "The boys are together, Harry and Draco, They are working as a team and they have the smartest witch in the school with them. Not a teacher, but a student, Hermione Granger. All three are your most valuable assets, if captured and information forced from them. The Granger girl is one to be looked out for, I might add." Snape seemed to have gained an overwhelming confidence.

"Good," snarled Voldemort bringing his face closer to Professor Snape's, "Their whereabouts?"

"Unknown."

And this wasn't a lie, for Draco and Harry had made a run for it, back through the school and into the best, most concealed secret passageway that they could locate.

Draco puffed and panted, now leaning against the wall after lowering Hermione to the ground. He was doubled over, clenching a cramp on his left while Harry puffed, his head angled strait up to the ceiling and his chest heaving. Neither noticed the slight movement of the body at their feet.

Draco inhaled deeply, "I think we'll be safe for a while now." In exhaled and inhaled sharply again, "I'm glad that I'm stuck with you."

"Stuck?" Harry breathed with a hint of a laugh.

Draco let out what sounded like a giggle, although it was hard to tell through his heavy breathing. "You know what I mean. Those thickheads in Slytherin would be no help at all."

"Is this just because I have an invisibility cloak?"

"Hey! I am trying to be nice this time. It's a challenge for me!"

The two boys laughed quietly so as not to be heard but their happiness was very short lived. Hermione's body jolted suddenly and jolted once more so that it was sitting bolt upright and then it just froze. She didn't move her body but she was visibly breathing and her eyes swivelled in their sockets looking at the two faces before her.

"Fuck." Harry whispered as Draco edged towards Hermione with his wand outstretched, his other hand aimed for her shoulder. "Be careful." He didn't want Draco hurt.

Draco edged the last few centimetres and placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder. She leaned slightly towards his warmth. Draco crouched next to her with his hand still on her shoulder and his wand poised and ready to strike if she attacked.

She turned her head to look at Draco. Then she tried to speak. Harry collapsed to his knees in front of her and grasped her hands firmly. "It's ok, it's just us. Draco and Harry."

She looked between the two boys and said a word that was so important to her, "Ron?"

Draco looked and Harry, Harry looked at Draco. Was it possible that the answer could crush Hermione's weak body like a hinkypunk squashed between a giant's fingers? "Harry, it's not bad," Draco urged reassuringly.

Harry looked Hermione in the eye and said, "We don't know."

Hermione's eyes widened slightly but then she relaxed. "He was never with us, the last time I saw him was this morning."

"That's the last time I saw him." Harry stated.

"I haven't seen him all day." Draco paused, "Hermione?" He waited until she looked towards him. "What did they do to you?"

"They used the cruciatus curse on me."

32


	12. Awoken from a Harsh Death

_I had to update... Sorry_

_Skip down a bit if You've already read some, there's new stuff down below._

* * *

><p>The boys stood in shock. Sure Hermione was the brightest witch at Hogwarts but she wouldn't know anything useful or important enough to be tortured over.<p>

"It's alright. I didn't tell them about your situation Draco and obviously I didn't tell them where you were or they'd have found you."

"How'd you survive?" Draco's jaw dropped, "I've seen them do it, they made me watch sometimes and if you don't give information they continue until you die!"

Hermione it her lip and hesitated before plunging her hand deep into her pockets. Soon she pulled out a tiny vial from the depths of her pockets and held it before her for the boys to see. The vial was small and shaped like the most delicate rain drop; it sparkled slightly despite the complete lack of light. Hermione held the bottle from its rim where it was corked with a white gold plug with a delicate chain attached that connected to the southern-most point of the vial with the other end. The potion inside, however, was as clear as the air that surrounded them, completely transparent apart from a thin film that marked the liquids amount. The liquid was the source of the sparkling. Every so often a spark would seem to ignite in the fluid that burned gold for less than a second causing the vial to sparkle ever so slightly.

Hermione lifted one of her fingers ever so carefully from the plug and placed it softly against the glass. As soon as her flesh touched the glass a great explosion of reds, oranges and yellows filled the vial. "They call it Slumbering Death," She said cautiously placing the vial into her pocket once more. "One drop sends you to sleep for a few hours, any more and you could be asleep for months even year, barely breathing and barely alive."

Harry and Draco still stood stunned and unable to speak so Hermione was forced to explain more. "If you drink the potion your heart slows and you only breath every once in a while so you look like you're dead. I figured that they were going to kill me so naturally I wanted to win the fight. I've been storing these for a while; ever since you told me that Voldemort was back to power, Harry."

Harry gave a little shudder of anger, "When were you planning to tell Ron and I? That was years ago!"

And then Draco betrayed Harry, "Hermione's right though, by not telling you. That way you wouldn't go looking for trouble thinking that you'd get yourself out of it. What if Voldemort didn't fall for it?"

"It only works once," muttered Hermione.

"Fine." Harry wasn't planning on talking to Hermione anytime soon.

"Harry do you still have the Marauder's Map?" She boldly asked.

Harry didn't answer, he didn't even look at her, he just stared at the empty space between her and Draco.

"The what Map?" Draco crouched back down with Hermione.

"It's called the Marauder's Map. It shows every passage in the castle and you can see where anyone is at any time of the day or night. It was made by four past students of Hogwarts, one of which was Harry's father."

Draco inhaled sharply and held his breath. "Harry?"

"Mmm?" Answered Harry without looking up from his hands.

Draco continued anyway, "Do you have the Marauder's Map?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Why do we need it?" Draco nudged Hermione in the ribs, urging for an answer.

She replied quickly, "To find Ron."

"Harry," Draco shook his head, "As much as you won't believe me, but I want to find Ron."

"He's my friend too, you know," noted Harry as he pulled the map from his inside cloak pocket. He tapped the parchment with his wand and clearly said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The ink seemed to grow across the parchment, following shapes and lines, marking out corridors and passageways in deep red. Every detail came into view, from the smallest doorway to the longest corridor. Then bleeding into the page in the same deep red ink came names, scrawled in messy but readable writing, which floated along the halls and corridors where to corresponding person walked. Several professors stood together in the great hall quite obviously overseeing students who also stood in the great hall.

Harry scanned through the names. In a large group, just outside the great hall stood a cluster of Weasleys, Ron amongst them. Fred, George, Ginny, Arthur. Arthur? What would Ron's father possibly be doing in Hogwarts. And then Harry scanned back over the great hall. Every person that had ever worked and still lived in the Ministry of Magic was there; they started appearing, apparating in all corners of the room and causing havoc among the students.

"He's here," Said Harry as blandly while pointing to it with his slim finger.

Hermione stared inquisitively at the map, quickly studying it while she had the chance, while Draco just looked at it as stunned as a rabbit with his eyes wide and round.

"They can't apparate in the school grounds! My father's tried numerous times and he's never been able to do it!" Draco said snappily thoroughly forgetting that Lucius was no longer his father, or rather, never was.

"Dumbledore's been doing since he became headmaster," Hermione said with exaggerated vowels and her usual tone of excitement for any new information, "It must be some sort of an emergency to have the Ministry of Magic whisked in here."

The trio stared at the map while remaining 30-or-so members of the ministry appeared in and around the Great Hall. One by one they apparated into a spot just in front of the pedestal where Dumbledore stood to make his daily announcements. Then, one by one, they strode down the aisles of tables and either took a seat in the centre of the Hufflepuff table or stood at the end of the Ravenclaw table closest to the doors of the Great Hall. Very few, Mr Weasley one of them, disbanded to find their children or to seek the missing teachers.

"That's my f-" Draco paused, "That's Lucius," he corrected. "I would have thought he was the last person to have been asked here. Most of the ministry know he's a death eater."

"Chances are he came with Voldemort, not the ministry," Harry pointed out. And then a quickly moving marker on the outskirts of the school's boundaries caught his eye. "Look, Look here!" The word seemed to look even more like blood than the rest, so much so that it almost glistened like a fresh wound. Three names that spelled the words Harry dreaded to hear.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," Hermione breathed as softly as a draft that encircled them.

And then the movement stopped and Voldemort just stood, facing the school. He didn't move, not even an inch, he just stood and watched the stone walls of the school. The hairs on the back of Harry's neck stood on end and goose bumps freckled his skin but his scar did not burn, in fact it was rather cool.

Harry whipped around suddenly noticing that what he could feel was not fear, worry or anything of the like, but a draft, stronger and more consistent than the drafts that occurred earlier. No this was new, this was a door being opened rather than a breeze squeezing through a crack in stone. And there he was, Severus Snape himself, in the flesh and scowling like the most awful smell had drifted through his nostrils. There he was. Again.

The room stayed silent as it so frequently had in the past few days. But now there was nothing to break the silence, no noise apart from the faintest intake of breath and the slight scrape of stone on stone as Hermione and Draco pressed themselves into the corner. Harry however stayed put, only curling his fingers on the soft watery fabric of the invisibility cloak. Then in what could have only happened in the slowest of motion, Harry tossed the cloak over Draco and Hermione as Snape lunged for Harry, narrowly missing out on grasping the boy's thin arm. Snape pulled his want from his pocket and firmly commanded "expelliarmus" but with quick reflexes Harry had already squealed the same and sent Snape's wand flying and his spell attempt backfired.

Snape wheezed as he tried to raise himself from the floor. "Get… Run… He… He's… JUST GO!" He urged, struggling for breath.

Harry hesitated, wondering whether to help Snape who had saved his life so many times before but had put him through hell so many other times.

Snape regained a little breath but stayed partially crippled on the floor, "You're mother, You're mother, I knew her." Harry stepped towards Snape and crouched slightly, "She was wonderful, amazing, beautiful and," Snape hesitated now, he voice catching, "I loved her. I still love her. Just… He's coming… Run, survive, live, for your mother." And then he said something that Harry had never dreamed of Snape saying, "I know who Draco's father is."


	13. Hiding in the Open

13

And so the process begun; a surrender of the invisibility cloak, a bundling of the crippled Snape and feigning dead Hermione inside it's folds, a quick escape plan devised though the Marauders map, and a movement so careful that no tracker could follow.

And so they moved. Hermione held Snape, as she would if he were her father and not a loathed teacher, as he limped along behind Draco and Harry, following perfectly in their footsteps. Where the four were going was not a huge question – away, it was obvious – but how they would collect Ron without drawing attention was a question larger than the universe.

Harry grasped the brittle parchment of the map in his hands, carefully scanning for any unwanted persons or even unwanted creatures, while Draco, unable to understand the map, directed and kept look out the old fashioned way with eyes and ears.

No words were spoken when Harry spotted a man from the ministry passing in a nearby corridor. A small intake of breath was all that was needed to alert Draco who raised his left arm beside his own head with a clenched fist, a signal to stop. With his right arm he held his wand out with a bent arm, poised to shoot, as the man passed. This is how they travelled through the most remote corridors and passageways of the Hogwarts castle.

Harry aimed to lead them to the old place he knew of an escape from. His forte in his schooling life, Quidditch, more specifically the team change rooms. Getting there would be one of the most dangerous trails they had been through for out on the grounds death eaters patrolled. There was no gap big enough for someone to slip through unnoticed and even if there was, going unnoticed was highly unlikely and just about impossible. Every entrance had a death eater guard and groups walked in a long single file line as lookout for any strays and although there castle was full to the brim with witches and wizards, the air was quiet. The quiet before the storm.

Harry and Draco huddled behind a stone column, Draco with his arms on Harry's waist and Harry with his arms on Draco's shoulders, pressed into each other so that they could stay behind the pole. Hermione, however, stood in the doorway watching the death eaters pass her invisible figure while she clung to Snape, desperately trying to keep him upright. Harry could feel Draco breathing heavily and if it was a better situation, he would have kissed him there and then, little did he know that Draco was thinking the same.

Hermione's jaw dropped suddenly and she gasped sharply, in the process she almost let Snape slump the ground. Out on the castle grounds was a snake-like man dragging the school's only hope and protection to the ground and pointing a wand to his temple. There kneeled Professor Dumbledore completely at Voldemort's mercy with his hands bound by a fluorescent green thread. Voldemort flicked his head and Bellatrix Le Strange trotted towards the two wizards, a giant murderous smile splitting through her face. She giggled wildly and held her own wand to Dumbledore's head. Voldemort looked sternly over to her, which seemed to dampen her spirits, before placing his wand at his throat.

His voice boomed across the school, feeling as though he was talking right beside you, "I arrived here today at your precious school, I walked through the doors which were held graciously open for me, I was greeted by dear Severus Snape with a smile and then I waltzed on into your headmaster's office and brought him down here for a nice chat. I admire your obedience. With all those Ministry wizards protecting you, I thought a fight would be in order but no, you are all just as weak as your headmaster was." Voldemort screwed his face with a gruesome laughter that chilled the air. He ran a bony hand across his face and then spoke again, "I will kill your precious Dumbledore, all in good time, but I do have some important questions to politely ask him beforehand."

He smiled cruelly down at Dumbledore who cowered slightly. Voldemort nodded to Bellatrix and she disappointedly stepped aside. He lowered his wand to Dumbledore's cheek and whispered something inaudible. Hermione watched as the former headmaster of the school twisted and turned like somebody was pulling at him limbs until Voldemort flicked his wand and the movement stopped. She flinched back and dragged her eyes from the scene as the twisting started again.

Escape was near impossible without the four of them under the invisibility cloak at once. The cloak would easily fit Harry, Draco and herself but even if Snape was able to walk by himself, there would only be room for one other and Harry was not going to leave Draco in the open. She softly slid towards the huddled boys and whispered her only plan, "I think we need to go back into the castle and get rid of Snape. I can cast obliviate on him and he won't remember anything about us." Harry nodded but Draco remained answerless. "Draco?"

"He knows who my father is." And that was the end of Hermione's brilliant plan.

"We should go back into the castle anyway," she suggested, "we got here without being seen and we can do it again. Plus, I think I should find Ron."

The idea stuck and the old routine kicked in; Draco guarded with eyes and ears, Harry navigated with the Marauder's Map and Hermione carried Professor Snape under the invisibility cloak.

"How far now?" Draco whispered to Harry.

"Well, since we can't go back to the last passage, we'd better go to this one." Harry pointed to a space on the map.

"There's nothing there." Draco said a little louder than expected. He slapped his hands over his mouth, "be serious. Please."

"I am being serious. Trust me. You'll see when we get there."

So they marched on through the school, ducking and weaving, weaving and ducking. They pressed themselves into the shadows, Draco constantly fretting about how his hair must have stood out from the black. Hermione, however, had the opportunity to scout properly for nearby dangers such as patrols of death eaters, who came around all too often. The castle corridors were all darker than usual, no candles were lit and the only light came from the frequent lighting that almost seemed to strike the castle grounds.

As the group climbed their last flight of stairs in bounding leaps they realised that one crucial element had been altogether forgotten, Ronald Weasley, and by the top of the stairs Hermione had realised and refused to move further on.

"I have the cloak, I'll be fine." She pleaded with Harry still invisible, still grasping the most hater Professor in the school.

"We all know that there's no room in the cloak for Ron too. He'll be fine. He's got his mum and his dad with him." Harry pleaded back.

"I have Snape. He'll help, he tried to get us safe and he warned us."

"For once I'll disagree," Draco said from the shadows, "As much as I've supported him over the years and he the same to I… As much as I liked him… He worked for Voldemort. He was going to turn Harry and I in when he found us outside." Draco had a sudden horrible memory of standing huddled to Harry with Professor Snape ready to turn them in to Voldemort. "You can't trust him. If he finds you he'll know where we are."

"I won't tell him."

"He'll force you to," he snarled

"Hermione, just please stay with us." Harry whispered with barely a noise but it broke the argument like a knife.

Hermione hesitated with this. She stared into Harry's watery green eyes and felt her own, too, become watery. She had to make a decision; save Ron and most likely be caught which meant certain death or stay with Harry and their once arch enemy Draco and hide until they could escape and run for the hills. It all came down to one thing, Ron had his family who were all very good wizards and Harry and Draco had nobody, not only support wise but family wise too. Draco was disowned, or at least running, in bizarre events and Harry was an orphan. And her decision was made. Draco and Harry it was.

They continued at a sprint for the last 100 metres of their journey. Harry skidded to a halt causing Draco to bump into him slightly. Here, on the wall of the small unused corridor, was a great picture, metres high and metres across, with a seemingly pure gold frame. The painting was full flecks of yellow that stayed put at the deep blue sky swirled past it but it had the most peculiar box shaped object hovering in the top right corner. The blue box stood out and distracted Draco from all the danger surrounding him.

"Most people think that the passage is on the frame," Harry whispered.

"Most people don't know it exists at all," Hermione said enthusiastically with a beaming smile staining her face.

"Where is it then if it's not the frame? Don't you just say the password and it opens?" Draco ruffled his hands through his hair in confusion. He ran his fingers through his luscious hair and twisting it between them while frantically thinking of other explanations.

"Kind of," Harry said encouragingly, you say the password and then you knock on the door in a certain way."

"How the hell do you expect to reach that?" Draco said, digging his fingernails further into his scalp.

"Look into my eye," Harry whispered to the painting.

He was barely audible but the swirling sky of the painting reacted immediately by pausing briefly and then flowing in the opposite direction to what it did before. And then, ever so slowly, the blue box drifted downwards and halted in the centre of the ginormous painting, still, it was too high to reach. But Harry ignored this and wandered to the centre, as if there was no rush to get back into hiding. Draco bounced on his heals impatiently. Harry slowly reached up and knocked in a four beat pattern, repeating it a few times. Magically, doors appeared in the box that swung open towards them and, without any hesitation, the group dived in.

The room beyond the now shutting doors was huge, similar to the room of requirement, but Draco had seen that and he remembered it much smaller than this. "It can't be the room of requirement, can it?" He asked shakily.

"Certainly not!" Hermione said in a huff while she dropped the invisibility cloak to her ankles, "everyone knows that room; it would be impossible to hide there. You found us when we had Dumbledore's Army." She proceeded to lay the still unconscious Professor on the stone floor.

"I suppose." He vaguely recalled the army of students, if it could be called an army at all as they didn't ever get to fight but now that they had the chance they chose to sit and take the blows.

"This room has no name. Not even the Marauder's knew of this one."

To that Draco answered a little to bitterly for his liking, "Then how'd you find it then?"

Harry stepped forward no longer spectating from the sidelines, "Dumbledore showed it to me. I suppose it was a sort of sanctuary that I could hide away in if there was ever any trouble. He's a brilliant man."

And then it dawned on them all, the man who was keeping all their secrets was out in the grounds slumped in the grass being tortured by none other than Lord Voldemort himself.

4


	14. Reunite

It was difficult knowing that all that they had ever hoped for in life was quickly spilling down the sinkhole. It was even more unnerving knowing that the man in the room with them was a past death eater, which was a completely impossible thing, at one point or another their professor would turn on them and the three of them would have to suffer the consequences of keeping him safe. Alas, he knew who Draco's real father was and there was no way that Draco would surrender this, much less, Harry; for they were both as curious each other on the matter.

Hermione curled in the corner with Snape who has finally come to and tried to stand but in his attempts, began to feel dizzy and fell again. Restricted to the ground, Snape was as much use as a rubber duck. While sitting here, instead of waiting for their doom, they could have been discussing Draco's long lost father and how to cure the carving in his side.

Harry sat bolt upright. "Your side. Is it still bleeding?"

"It doesn't heal, Harry. That's the whole pint of an unhealing cut."

"But you're losing so much blood if it constantly bleeds. It was oozing quite a bit when you showed us before."

Draco sighed, "Snape gave me medicine, administered by Dumbledore. Dumbledore's the only one that knew what it said until I showed you two." He looked over to Snape and sighed again. "Dumbledore can't hold the secrets of the castle forever. We need him awake so that we can get out of here."

Hermione instantly slapped Snape across the mouth and then on the forehead. He jumped, obviously awakening again. "His reflexes are better." Everyone could tell that Hermione was enjoying this even though she never seemed the one to take revenge on a teacher, no matter how cruel he was.

The kids stood around for five more minutes just waiting for Snape to start to speak. He came back to consciousness slowly at first; he moved his fingers and then his arms, his feet and his eyes fluttered. Then he jumped, almost completely out of his skin, and he was suddenly on his feet. How he got to his feet, nobody was entirely sure, but it meant that he'd be able to talk.

The interrogation began with Harry as Draco was too startled and nervous to speak. "So you said you know who Draco's father is. Do you?"

"Yes," came a slow, crackling voice.

"Can you tell us the name?"

The professor frowned harshly, "Why would you want to know?"

"Because Draco wants to know," Harry said, attempting to stay calm but his voice still sounded bitter no matter how hard he tried.

"Professor, I need to know," Draco whispered from the shadows.

Snape looked more startled than he had even been before; he jumped at the sight of Draco and at the sound of his voice. It was almost as though he was scared of what Draco would do to him if he got too close, but he stood his ground even if he was jittering. "It is hard to explain my boy."

Draco sighed and decided his next tactical movement. He stepped forward, not menacingly but calmly, close to Snape who cowered in front of the young scrawny boy. Draco dared not speak a word and performed, to every precise detail, what he had shown Harry and Hermione. As the bloody bandages unravelled and fell to the floor, Snape's face did the same; his eyes fixed to the boy's waist but his jaw dropping through the floor. His jaw trembled as he watched the thick blood ooze around the cuts, he read the word over and over, but his eyes never left Draco's side. His jaw twitched a little more violently when he tried to speak but he cleared his throat and resumed his usual speech patterns, "Mr Malfoy, you already know. What is it that you seek by asking?"

Harry and Draco exchanged looks; Harry questioning Draco's knowledge and Draco assuring Harry that he had no clue. They re-joined Hermione in glaring at the professor. "First of all, don't call me that; if my Lucius isn't my father then Malfoy is not my surname. Second, I don't know who my real father is and lastly, I want to know the name."

Snape looked startled, his eyes widening until they looked as though the eyeballs could fall out of their sockets. "You really don't know… He doesn't know… I thought he might tell you… He doesn't know." And so Professor Snape fell into a spiral of confusion and random gibberish.

"Great help he was," spat Hermione sarcastically. She collapsed to the ground in a huff with teary eyes, "I could have saved Ron after all. What a waste of time."

The room was still for minutes that seemed like hours; the only movement and noise came from Snape who was rocking back and forth and muttering his gibberish. Disappointed in Snape's answers, Harry and Draco held each other and listened in on the nonsense mutterings of Snape; each muttering seemed to get further and further away from the topic of Draco's biological father. Still in a huff, Hermione sat away from the group, sulking about losing Ron and her failure to keep him safe at all costs; for who knew, he could be dead, lying among the bodies of their classmates and his family. Although this was entirely impossible: the room was not sound proof and she has not heard so much as a footstep outside the room.

Ron however was perfectly safe. Encircled by his family, both he and Ginny had no chance of seeing the world around them and therefore, the world could not see them. There was no fighting, not yet anyway, but the large fiery haired family stood at the ready with their wands poised just in case. Ron was disgruntled at the fact that his family would not let him fight; he had fought the all mighty Dark Lord with his best friends and even if Hermione was the best witch of the age, Ron had to amount for something during those fights.

He stamped his feet in protest but didn't utter a word. He couldn't get one in anyway, Ginny was complaining nonstop, so much so that she didn't seem to breath between sentences and her face was slowly turning redder than her hair. "What do you mean we can't fight," she screeched, "the fact that I'm your daughter is not an excuse: Ron's here too and he is a boy."

"Ginny, you're the youngest and Ron is second youngest, neither of you have even graduated from school. You have your whole lives ahead of you, but not if you fight in the front lines," Percy said matter-of-factly.

"I've fought him before," Ron finally squeezed in.

"That doesn't mean you should fight again Ronald," screeched Mrs Weasley thoroughly sick of her children's arguments. "Behave," she added as she turned back to the doors of the dining hall.

Ron and his sister were determined, however, to break free and find Harry and Hermione. "Ginny, on three we escape right?" Ron whispered to his left.

"Where to, we're in a circle."

"Anywhere you can think of, just make sure we go in the same direction, yeah?"

"Got it."

Ginny shuffled her feet apart, lifting the weight subtly off one leg so that she didn't draw attention to herself, Ron did the same. She loosened her muscles and then sprinted through the tiniest of gaps between her mother and father, through the dining hall and into the main hall. Ron was close on her tail following her bounding leaps up the first flight of stairs; but unfortunately he wasn't the only one following in her footsteps, Percy wasn't far behind.

"Come back!" He screeched again and again, at the top of his lungs but the two youngest Weasleys kept running.

They weren't far from the first staircase when Percy caught up to Ginny, who had started to lag behind Ron, and grabbed onto the tail of her flowing cloak. "Ginny, you'll get hurt," He said reeling her in like a fish, "we just want you and Ron to be safe."

"Ginny just run!" Ron screamed, his voice echoing through the castle. Ginny wiggled her shoulders, flicking her arms forward, and then, violently, flung her arms out behind her while running at full speed. Her cloak slid from her shoulders and landed on the ground leaving Percy shocked and still holding the bottom tightly in his grasp.

They were racing now. The last flush of adrenalin had sent them flying and now they found it easy to leap the stairs three at a time. But now Ginny began to wonder where they were heading. Surely leaping up the stairs away from the fight would just end with them being trapped and unable to fight which is was they were running from anyway. "Ron, where are we going?" She called to him.

Ron who was running just a few steps in front of Ginny, came to a quick halt, almost skidding into a wall and falling over. "I have no idea…" he stopped to think for a second. "Where do you want to go?

Without even having to think, Ginny answered the question, "I want to find Harry and Hermione."

Ron scratched his temples. "There's only one place I can think that they'd go if You-Know-Who was outside, and he is, so I have a fair guess. But I don't remember how to get in." Ron frowned and shrugged before starting to run again.

Ginny was ever so tired by the time they reached the towering picture frame; she barely made it to the start of the corridor but Ron had dragged her along behind him. He had refused to wait for her to catch her breath because he knew that if he'd stopped, she would have never started running again. On the way, Ginny had made countless excuses for slowing down such as the fact that their family wasn't catching up but Ron had never given in, besides, the quicker he found his friends the quicker this would all be over.

"It's the biggest painting in the whole castle," he said.

Ginny yawned, "It's not a secret doorway, too big. Let's leave, there's no time for appreciating art."

"Umm…" Ron racked his brain, "bigger on the inside?"

The painting didn't react but his sister did, "what?"

Ron ignored her as he always did and went on guessing the passwords, "It's something about a song or an eye, maybe a forest. God I wish Hermione was here." Ron paced up and down the corridor while Ginny moaned at him and pleaded to leave. "OH! Look into my eye!" and the painting moved, revealing the doors in the box and letting them pass through.

The room beyond was pitch black and slightly chilly. Goosebumps started to form on Ron's pale skin. As he rubbed at his arms to keep warm, he wandered further into the room looking for any sign of Hermione or Harry. "How can you see a thing?" Ginny protested.

"I can't." And then Ron's foot hit something squishy. He heard a quiet groan of pain from a male voice but he was unfamiliar with the voice. "Who is it?" He fumbled in his pockets clumsily for his wand, "Lumos." Draco's blonde hair came into view before his face and the rest of his body. "Malfoy? What the bloody hell are you doing here you little prick."

"Ronald!" Came the voice of a very disapproving Hermione, still concealed in the shadows. There was a faint rustling as she popped to her feet and ran towards Draco to check his cut. "We thought you might be a death eater."

"Get away from him Hermione! What are you doing! He's the death eater."

"No I'm not," whispered Draco through teeth that were gritted in pain. "I think you just made it worse," he said as he and Hermione nursed the wound.

"Hermione! I said get away from him. What are you doing?"

Hermione looked into Draco's eyes and waited for him to nod before stepping back and giving Ron full view of the words carved into Draco's skin. "What is this? A publicity stunt Malfoy?"

"What do you think?" Draco said obviously distressed by the increase of blood flow with tears forming in his eyes. Curled on the floor, he looked so innocent and vulnerable.

"What have you done to Harry?" Ron snarled, "What have you done do my girlfriend? Why does she trust you?"

Draco looked stunned and stayed silent, Hermione saw it best for her to step in, "Harry is over there with professor Snape; and before you say anything, no, he has not drugged us or jinxed us.'

There was a sound of frantic footsteps that could only have been Ginny's as she ran towards the unharmed Harry. She was still so obsessed with him and it had been many years and quite a few turndowns since they first met. Ron could hear Ginny as she squeezed Harry tightly around the waist. Draco looked on, slightly jealous, "what's that look about Malfoy?" Ron spat bitterly, "You're not getting my sister."

Draco smiled cruelly, "I don't care about your foul little red haired sister, she's so very annoying anyway. She's worse than you, dirty, annoying, clingy, I don't know how you cope; but I suppose she is just like you anyway."

Ron threw a flying punch at Draco but missed and hit the floor. Rubbing his hand gingerly with a sour look mixed of defeat and loathing scarring his face. "Well, good! I'd rather her be like me than be with you." His face contorted at the thought.

Draco looked contented with his efforts and looked over to Harry, nodding and blowing a kiss. He remained facing Harry but his gaze looked sideways at Ron's face that was quickly twisting with confusion. "What the f-" he mouthed, barely audible.

"It's a long story."

"Well make time! How long have I been away from you? Just a few hours and apparently that means that Draco and you are an item now."

"We are not!" Draco screeched, although he seemed surprised by his volume for he suddenly drew back.

"You blew the kiss to him."

"Fine, I admit we are dating as of a couple of hours ago. But we're not officially an item," he winked over Ron's shoulder to Harry, "Are you jealous, Weasley?"

"Since when were you gay?" He said looking over to Harry, "And, also, since when were you gay?" He scowled, looking back to Draco.

"Ronald!" Hermione's shrill voice pierced the air making everyone wince.

Ron crossed his arms at Harry, "Well?"

"A while," Harry stuttered, more worried about Ginny's reaction than Ron's. Although non-violent, she was tearing up inside and out.

"Me too for that matter. It's a bit hard to get past and difficult to insult your crush but not so hard to insult the idiots in your way," Draco nodded at Ron signalling that he was one of those idiots.

"Stuff you," Ron drew his foot back and violently threw it into Draco, who was still lying on the floor.

Draco coiled in, groaning and clutching his side. He rolled over, his pain scarring his eyes and blinding him temporarily. He could barely hear Harry as he frantically asked if he was ok. Even less audible was Hermione yelling at Ron and slapping him hard across the face, something the Draco was sorry not to have seen. He twisted again and twinged forcing a scream of pain that turned into painful tears. He could feel Harry try to gentle remove his bandages without success; each touch sent spasms of intense pain through Draco's skin. And then flat white filled his vision and he could barely hear anything, even less than the little noise he could hear before; the white was short lived and black soon clouded his vision and Draco felt as though he had drifted away, his whole body numb.

6


	15. Silence in the Halls

**I'm so so sorry about not updating for such a long time. There's been a lot of stuff happening with me and I just haven't been able to come back to this. I'm not sure if anyone still reads this but I'm going to upload it and keep writing because it's a distraction. I hope you like it anyway**

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><p>The pain on Ron's face faded quickly but a blazing red hand print scared his face, prickling slightly. It was sure to bruise. He looked down into Hermione's eyes and she stared right back into them with an anger that made him step back from her. She didn't even blink while her eyes send icy messages that tore through him. Ron didn't feel bad though, he wasn't the sort. Malfoy deserved it. For one, Ron was not an idiot, sure he didn't understand half of what Harry and Hermione said but he was smart enough and secondly although didn't have very good social skills, he knew when to use violence to get a point across. He only used violence when he knew he could win.<p>

Throwing the bandages aside, Harry pulled out his wand. "Hermione? What do I use?"

Hermione's intense gaze broke from Ron's eyes and she shifted her weight from foot to foot before allowing herself to turn to Harry and Draco, who was still unconscious on the floor. She stared for a few seconds, biting her lip and rolling her tongue in her mouth, thinking. "Here, I think I know. Let me."

Harry repositioned himself to cradle Draco's head in his lap and Hermione dropped to her knees beside Draco's blood stained torso. She reached into her robes, pulling out her wand and then, after a little hesitation, she flicked it. The thick blood seemed to ooze back into Draco just as fast as it had left him. Eventually, the blood had reduced enough for the gleaming words to fill their vision. Although they'd seen it so many times already, it still made them wince; it was partly because of the horrible use of the word in bullying but also that Draco's father, who had taken care of him all these years, had carved it into his son's flesh. It shouldn't have meant anything that they weren't blood relations.

Harry patted Draco's hair; he was still out cold, not even moving. "How long do you think until he wakes up?"

"I have no idea…" Hermione stuttered.

"That would be a first," Snape's voice seemed almost entertained. "I rather enjoyed seeing that slap, Hermione." He waited until she shied away before continuing, "Mr Malfoy would have enjoyed it greatly. As for his consciousness, I can wake him up now or we can wait a few minutes for him to wake himself."

"Wake him." Ron scowled from the corner, "it'll probably hurt him more to be awake." Hermione didn't even look at her boyfriend.

"I can assure you Weasley that I will apply proper pain relief," their professor flicked his robes away from his arms and reached into a pocket in a jacket he wore beneath it. He pulled a small flask from his pockets, "I carry this with me constantly, just for the occasion when one of my Slytherin manages to lose a fight."

He moved towards Draco; he looked as though he was gliding across the floor, he barely even moved with each step but he seemed to stride a mile with each step. He knelt down next to Harry who still had Draco's head cradled in his lap, "hold his mouth open. This will stop the pain." Snape poured a deep green liquid into Draco's mouth that stained his teeth slightly, it smelled putrid and Harry had to put a hand to his nose to bare the smell. "He will jolt a bit," warned Snape as he swished his wand gracefully in the air above Draco's head.

And he had spoken the truth, Draco convulsed and his chest heaved and with one final sharp gasp or air, he jumped back to life. His chest heaved as he breathed. Snape let his eyes wander down to the cuts and skimmed over the words. The cogs visibly clicked over in his mind and his eyes bulged, sticking to the cuts, reading them again and again. "I knew it was bad… but I didn't think it was this." He covered his mouth with his hands. He pulled them down his face, temporarily elongating his features.

These actions are what let Harry see how tired Snape really was. He stared into Snape's eyes, observing the black bags beneath them. His skin sagged around his mouth and drooped down ridiculously at the sides. He looked hurt by the words on Draco's stomach. And for the first time in all his schooling life, Harry found himself caring about his professor. "Professor? Are you ok?" he asked cautiously.

"Who are you to care, Potter? It is none of your business," he scowled horribly but his eyes stayed stuck in their sad, tired position. "Nosy brat," he let slip under his breath.

Harry wasn't about to allow himself to be fazed by Snape's reaction and looked back down to Draco who looked back up at him, smiling. Harry couldn't help but smile back. "You know, I think you should keep that red head away from me," he laughed. He ran his hands down to the cut that had dirtied itself again. "That was a good spell Hermione," he watched her blush and try to conceal her face behind her hands, "Would you mind teaching me? I mean, you can't follow me around everywhere and neither can Potter," He giggled at the use of the name Potter as opposed to Harry.

Hermione skipped over, she always enjoyed teaching new spells to witches and wizards who asked; she would never admit it though, people called her a teacher's pet too bitterly already.

As she taught Draco the spell, Harry and Ginny stood with Ron at the front of the room as close to the door they could get without opening it. They listened for any noise beyond the corridor, any signs of a war or fighting back. They hoped they would hear nothing, a quiet escape was a good one and being stuck in this room was soon going to be the death of them. Ron would tear Draco apart and Hermione would tear Ron apart, Snape would most likely tear Harry apart just like her usually would and Ginny was destined to pull Snape apart for laying a finger on Harry. It was certain; they had to leave and get out into the forest or someplace where they could separate from each other.

"It's clear," Ginny whispered to the room.

The group got ready for the worst; their wands were held in front of them, arms ready to flick. Harry and Draco were the only ones not at the ready. Harry was the only one strong and willing enough to hold up Draco without lowering the strength of the team too drastically. Snape pledged is alliance with the group, being a teacher he was bound to know some extra spells if they were necessary. As for the student, Hermione was the best student they had for any spells, Ginny was fairly good at spells but she was far too nimble to carry Draco and Ron, although he was hopeless at spells, was not going to help Draco even if it meant the world to his friends.

So, with tactics and escape routes planned, the group took their first steps into the corridors. The adrenaline took over and they hurried their way along the corridors not noticing the lack of people, even the noises of them seemed erased from the spaces. It took them far too long to notice the stillness of the castle. They were almost to the bottom floor before Hermione paused to listen for the first time in their entire journey.

"Stop." She stood at the front, half crouched, with her wandless arm out behind her signalling for a pause in movement. "Can you hear that?"

"What are you talking about I can't hear a thing, let's keep moving." Ginny pleaded.

"Exactly." All too sudden the silence of their journey dawned on them. The rush of blood in their ears had impaired their hearing and now they found themselves feeling more idiotic than they had ever felt. "A whole school of students, professors, the ministry for magic, death eaters! Not once has this school ever been silent, not even at night!"

The others were too shocked to speak, their mouths just hung clumsily open with their tongues dangling in their mouths. Not even Snape, one of the most confident teachers at the school had a word to say about the matter, although, considering the last couple of hours, his confidence had depleted drastically.

"I'm right though." Hermione waved her free hand at them and then whispered beneath her breath, "As usual." But she was determined to be proven wrong for the first time in her life. There were two things that silence could mean: Voldemort had killed everyone and he and his death eaters had left for bigger projects or that everybody had left. The group couldn't have been hidden away long enough for a war to break out and be finished, could they? Wouldn't the war be loud? They had not heard a thing. "Hurry up," she commanded quickly before her thoughts got to her.

They had to get out of the castle to somewhere safe, somewhere where nobody would think to look for them. "Tunnels?" Ron suggested. "I mean we can't go out in the open. Everyone assumed that his only reason for his concern was because he was concerned for his own safety. Ron never really understood the role of boyfriend, Hermione was still just his friend most of the time, he still said the worst things about her and the only time her showed her love was when he wanted a kiss. He was a complete and utter idiot.

But he was right. The tunnels were the safest for all of them, somewhere to hide and a way to escape in secret. Ron knew of one particular tunnel that was so secret that it was not even noted on the Marauder's Map. It had never even occurred to Harry to ask Ron how he found out about it but he knew now that it might be the only chance that they had of escape. "We need to be quick," and as if he was the only one left to make the decision the group fled, in the guidance of Ron, to the tunnel.

It was quite difficult to even get to the tunnel. It had been like this for year. The old storage room of Hogwarts was cluttered in just about every item you could think of, muggle or magical. It didn't seem like anyone had been here for years, even the hinkypunks had seemed to have deserted it. The darkest corners were free of spiders' webs and it seemed as though not even a mouse has scuttled across the floors. The old storage room was very old indeed.

"I've only been down here twice; you can see my tracks down there." In the dull light his tracks were barely visible but they were there.

"We're following you." Draco spoke for the first time in quite a while, obviously recovered from his stomach pains. "So hurry up."

Harry put his hand around Draco's shoulder and held him tight for a few seconds before hurrying Ron forward and following swiftly behind him. There was a world of debris to move about; over, under, weaving through the legs of table, chairs and hanging cages holding a variety of scrolls and objects. Who knew how much stuff was in the store room? But what was the bigger question is how did Ron find this passage? Ron pointed a finger at a huge draping wall carpet. This must be where the entrance is hidden.

Ron approached the carpet, holding his wand lightly between his fingers, "Okay, so as soon as it burns enough you run though it because as soon as it burns completely another falls in its place and the new one doesn't catch fire for a long time Got it?" He waited for the group to nod and then raised his arm, "Incendio," and the rug started to burn.

The carpet burned as quick as a piece of paper, it was almost completely burned before anyone reacted to it. The group ducked beneath the burning drape and as soon as the last person sprinted under a new one fell with a great thud, it was clear that it was incredibly heavy. The team breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the narrow, dark corridor before them. It looked like it went on forever and only two people could be able to walk down it side by side.

So they started on their journey which was uneventful.

"Draco, does it hurt a lot?" Harry asked.

"Yeah a bit," Draco replied, swallowing hard.

"You don't have to lie to me."

"We were worst enemies a few hours ago," Draco protested.

Harry decided it was time to bring up the time in the Chamber of Secrets, he needed to know a few things, "How did you know about what I saw in the crystal?" He bit his lip in anticipation.

"I may look as though I'm paying no attention at all sometimes, sometimes I'm not but other times I am just blending to get a better view." He sighed, "I saw it the lesson before, I didn't react at all until I was out of sight but then, in that Divination lesson, you turned around to look at me before you ran out of the room. I could tell you were lying about the girl when you started to say my name and then freaked out."

Harry was impressed, all these years he thought Draco hadn't noticed anything but things he could tease Harry about. "Not as dumb as you look," Harry said playfully. "I thought you hated me."

"Sometimes people are extra horrible to their crushes because they don't want people to find out. I had a crush since we met in the uniform shop; I was trying to impress you at that stage."

"Oh! So that's what that was." Harry didn't particle want to admit that he had got a crush on Draco only a year ago after hearing that Draco had liked him for 5 years or something ridiculous like that. Instead he blushed and sneaked a glance at Draco who was blushing as red as the Weasley's hair which stood out furiously on his pale white skin.

Harry stopped, double checking that Draco and he were in fact the back of the line, Harry reached out a hand and lightly brushed Draco's face. His skin was as smooth as a baby's and warm against Harry's rough skin. Draco had welcomed in the contact by leaning his face closer towards Harry's hand. He looked slightly up at him, lingering in Harry's green eyes as he watched Harry lean close. Their lips touched and both boys forgot where they were and fell into a state of happiness, a world where they were the only two and everything was bright and warm. Harry pulled away slowly but as soon as their eyes lost contact they fell back into the cold, dark corridor.

5


	16. Out of the Darkness

16

The corridor was completely dark for a while, not even lumos maxima could penetrate the darkness and it was so cold that their hairs stood up on end under large goose-bumps.

Hermione was now in the lead after Ron decided that he didn't like the dark. "I never actually came down this far," he kept saying and the group was now doubtful as to wear the tunnel would release them. She halted and whipped around to the group forcing them to stumble a little. "We'll need to sleep at some point," she brought to their attention, "It was night when we left. There's not much room here but I might be able to conjure up a fire to keep us warm."

"That's fine Hermione," Harry called from the back of the group, "It can't be that late, we can go a fair bit further still." But he knew that it was only a matter of time before someone wanted to rest and he placed his bets on that person being Ron. Ron hadn't been very co-operative since her realised that Draco was now on their side and part of that may have been the significant fact that Draco and Harry were together. He swung his hand down and clasped it in Draco's.

"I'd be happy to keep look out," Snape volunteered but even he knew that with the level of trust between him and the kids as it was, he would be one of the ones sleeping. Hermione, however, nodded and volunteered to stay up with him in case something did happen.

"So can we go now?" Ron said stubbornly, shoving Ginny in back and urging her forward.

Six pairs of feet started shuffling along the cobbled floor before breaking into a brisk walk. They were making good distance at this pace but no more than 40 minutes later it was evident that the group would not be able to travel for much longer by foot, of by many means of transport for that matter. Hermione looked down at her watch and her jaw dropped a little when she realised that they must have been walking for at least 3 hours. The time was late, very late. "FOUR!" she accidentally slipped out. She looked around, scanning the group. They all looked exhausted; especially Ginny, whose eyes drooped and closed every few seconds as she swayed in between sleep and consciousness. "Just a little further and then we sleep."

She didn't know it right away, but Hermione was correct in saying 'just a little further' as sure enough just 200 meters down the hall it widened to reveal the mouth of a cave that led immediately into a forest; it was hard to tell but Hermione's best guess was that they were on the other side of the valley to the castle. She was quick in getting to work to secure the area from invaders, just in case the death eaters decided to invade while they slept. While she secured the area, she allowed Snape into her bag to find the tent and supplies so that he could set up camp with the others.

The camp was set up within a matter of minutes and sleeping arrangements were quickly being organised. Snape automatically got a bed and a room in the enchanted tent to himself. Ginny was happy to be put wherever and Draco and Harry were set to sleep in a room together. Hermione and Ron were a different matter. Hermione was still furious with Ron's action; he had almost killed Draco, he'd kicked him so hard. So there was no question that Hermione didn't want to sleep in the same room as him, let alone the same bed.

"But he's a worthless prat, Hermione," Ron argued, he was practically asking for another slap and he got his reward. Another red hand mark stained his cheeks.

So it was decided that Hermione and Ginny would have to sleep in the same bed while Ron got a room to himself, although he wasn't happy about it. Hermione look down at her watch and decided that the group need to sleep in the mere 3 hours until the sun would rise.

Harry and Draco didn't linger too much with their goodnights as they hurriedly slipped into their room closing the curtain that was used as a door. They kissed again lightly and fell into each other's arms, still clothed on the bed. Both kicked off their shoes, heavily clad with mud. "We should get changed," Harry murmured into Draco's chest.

"Dress me," Draco yawned, giving Harry his cutest puppy eyes when Harry looked confused by his request.

"Dress yourself," Harry giggled reaching over and taking a firm grasp on both of Draco's hands. He pulled him off the bed and close into him. Draco still had his puppy eyes and had begun to pout his lips, "You're lucky you're so damn cute." Harry planted a kiss on the very tip of Draco's nose and blushed slightly before prancing happily over to the door and sliding outside to collect clothes from down the hall

Draco lazily slipped of his shirt and pants and dropped them in a messy pile in the corner. He stood awkwardly, half unaware of what he was doing, in the centre of the room. When Harry made his almost dramatic entrance and saw the almost naked boy before him he burst out laughing, "Tightey whiteys!"

Draco refrained from giggling himself and, unsuccessfully, tried to keep a straight face, "Just gimme the clothes." Harry threw him a pair of dark green flannel trousers and a dark grey cotton tee-shirt that was about four sizes too large. He started pulling on his trousers while Harry undressed and redressed in black trousers and a red tee-shirt. "Why the house colours?"

Harry simply shrugged and turned away from Draco. Draco felt a pang of something in his chest, perhaps worry, because the way he saw it, he'd offended Harry in some way. But suddenly, as soon as Draco least expected it, Harry had tackled him down onto the bed. In a fit of girly giggles, the boys writhed in the bed sheets until Draco's head lay comfortably on Harry's chest and Harry's arms were wrapped firmly and lovingly around Draco's waist, just above the bandages.

The world went dark as he fell into sleep.

Draco woke to the frantic calling of his name. "Draco? Draco? Draco, wake up! Shit." Harry cursed and threw another glass of water over Draco's face.

His eyes flung open, blurry and unable to see, he tried to move his stiff body but pain rocketed through him, his bones felt like they were being shattered with each spasm of his muscles. "W-what? Harry?" He tried to move again but his side felt like it was ripping, his hand flung to the spot, despite the excruciating pain. The shot felt weird; he raised his hand before his eyes and grimaced as he found it covered with thick sticky blood. "God."

Harry had obviously been terrified by Draco in this state; his forehead was wet with sweat and huge stains ran from his chest and armpits on the red shirt that he had on put on earlier in the night. Draco ran his hand down to his waist again, his shirt had been removed. His vision was clearing now and he noticed the blood on the sheets that had dyed them a brilliant red. "You… started shaking and I thought you were cold… and I put a jumper on you but you kept shaking… and then you started to bleed a lot." Harry's eyes were wide, wild and frantic, his brow creased in concern, "you've been out for an hour. I called Hermione."

Draco tried to nod but his neck was as still as the rest of his body so he ended up squeezing out a faint, "ok."

Never once off cue, Hermione almost floated into the room, clasping a bunch of vials in her hands. "I snuck into Snape's room and stole these, I don't think he'll mind too much," she held them out, "There's a painkiller here somewhere, and I found a cream to help with the clotting of blood," she added as she begun to rummage in her pockets, pulling out a small metal tub after a few seconds of searching. "Let's get you cleaned up." She waved her wand, cleaning the sheets and Draco. It took much longer than it did the first time, mostly because the vast amount of shiny red blood that stained every inch of fabric. She searched through the vials, "I think it's this one."

"I hope so," Draco said taking it in his hand, opening it and throwing it back down his throat. The results were instant. A cool flush ran through his body and numbed him all over. "Heaps better"

Hermione sighed in relief, "Now for the cream." She started applying it over his wounds. She started to frown a bit, "What were you two doing anyway?"

Harry looked over at Draco, who was paler than usual, 'I think he had a seizure". Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry, he'd never had a seizure before.

Hermione nodded quickly, realising the severity of the issue. She smeared what must have been the fourth layer of the slimy cream over Draco's still bleeding side.

Draco was still very numb when he tried to rise to his feet. His legs tried to give way but he buckled them in place, he wasn't going to be able to move but at least he could stand. He felt slightly light headed from the vial of liquid and the loss of blood but overall he felt fine. The ends of his fingers tingled a little and he could see a few spots in front of his eyes but when Hermione asked if he was feeling alright, he answered with a smiley, "Very alright." Confusion hit him like a train and had obviously streaked across his face as Hermione and Harry displayed the same look, identical to each other. Before Draco had time to process the words in his head he asked, "are you two brother and sister?" And with that, he watched a still identical frown of worry crossed their faces.

Draco counted the seconds in the long silence and managed to estimate that they'd been standing still for 3 hours but something in the back of his mind told him that it had only been a matter of seconds. Harry was yelling something over his shoulder with his flaming red eyes fixed on Harry. "It must be hot in this room," Draco burst, but he looked to Hermione who was frozen head to toe and decided that his sight was deceiving him. A floating black blob entered the room, it had Snape's voice when it said, "You gave him far too much; he'll be like this for hours." The blob bubbled and popped causing Draco to burst into fits of laughter. In his laughter he forgot that he had locked his knees into position so that he could stand and fell violently to the ground, still laughing.

"We have to move away from the castle, we need to find some way to attack Voldemort." Hermione squealed, frustrated.

"Do you realise, miss Granger, how dangerous that man is?" Hermione shut her mouth, clenching her teeth. "We need to restore mr Malfoy.."

"He doesn't want to be called Malfoy anymore because Lucius isn't his father." Harry interrupted.

"Narcissa is his biological mother therefore he still has the family name," Snape announced blankly, watching Harry hook his arm around Draco and hoist him up. "Although, it does not seem just to discuss such matters while Draco is in this state of mind; I shall tell you further information when he has come to his senses." Snape turned up his nose and strode out of the room. But before he left earshot he called, "Granger, see me in my room, I'll give you some potions to help."

She left immediately, leaving Harry and the hallucinating Draco in their tent room. Harry lowered Draco back on the bed and set beside him, stoking his hair. "You look good in flames," he heard Draco mutter. He didn't question it but Draco was keep to go on. "You're eyes are glowing like candles, I like it. Is it hot? You look hot to me." He reached out and touched Harry's arm and drew back his hand like the contact had burned him. He rolled over on the bed and sucked his fingers, "that wasn't very nice, I know you can't help it. Do you die if water gets on you?" His speech was rapid and annoying. Harry massaged his temples; as much as he loved him, Draco sure could be annoying.

The wait for Hermione was far too long for Harry's liking. It seemed like hours and Draco had been rambling for all of them in a high pitched voice that Harry dearly hoped Draco would not keep. But sure enough she had returned with arms full of potions of all different colours. She dropped them all onto the bed next to Draco, sighing from the relief of the weight. "Snape gave me a couple of potions," she pulled a neatly folded piece of parchment from her pocket, "We have to mix a few." She reached over a removed a green filled bottle from Draco's hands and swilled it around. She reached for a bottle containing a thick blood red liquid; it looked like blood but when Hermione pulled the plug out of the bottle, the mixture started to scream. Hermione signalled for Harry to grab the largest empty bottle and hold it while she poured the green and red potions in together. The screaming ceased as soon as the red potion hit the green and despite what seemed logical, the position turned blue instead of the assumed brown. She grabbed potions with both hands, reading the list on the square of parchment. A blue one, a brown one, two slightly different yellow ones, a silver sparkly one, another red one and finally a clear one. The final potion sparkled a brilliant bluey purple.

"Draco open up," Harry hassled.

Draco resisted but gave in when he looked back up into Harry's fiery eyes. "Ok, but only because you're handsome." And he swallowed the whole potion in only a few mouthfuls.


	17. Ronald

When Draco came to he was outside next to a fire. He panicked for a few moments before he heard the giggling of Ginny and Hermione and the sweet smell of burning sugar. He felt better though, his head was so much clearer and what used to be a piercing cold feeling, he felt a calming warmness from the fire. He rolled onto his side expecting the usual splitting but bearable pain and dampness of his side but received none. He was dead. For sure. If nothing hurt then death could be the only explanation.

Draco rolled again to face Ginny and Hermione. No pain. 'Dead. I'm dead,' he thought. "Draco! You're awake!" Harry sounded excited and happy.

Was Harry dead too? All Draco could remember was that Harry was on fire. Maybe they were all dead. "Am I dead?"

"Not quite. We thought you were for a while." Ginny said.

"Yeah, the only person more worried than Ginny was Harry. Although that was a given." Ron said piercingly. "I don't see why they care. You're just dead weight." If Ron was any closer to Hermione, he would have been thrown in the fire.

Ginny spoke up to stop Hermione from launching herself at Ron. "It was all Snape and Hermione's great work. Snape said it was just in time too."

"Where is he anyway?" Draco inquired.

"I don't think he wanted to spend any more time with Ron. He's been pissing us all off all day…" Harry frowned.

"All day! How long have I been out!"

Harry laughed at Draco's alarm, "Well, after you stopped telling me that I was hot in flames…" Draco blushed as red as his imagined flames, "You actually just fell asleep after the potion and went into a sort of hibernation. It's only been a few hours."

"I really said that?"

"It was ridiculous. You thought I was frozen. But enough of that; we need to sort out you, Ron." She was determined to get to him. Psychologically, physically, she didn't care how but she wanted him to hurt. "You've done nothing but treat me like a slave since we've been together. You make me do your homework and then I don't get thanks. You don't even read it, Ron. Don't try tell me that you do. Then, with all of this. Can't you just see that Harry is happy? Even Ginny can accept it, she was worried about Draco because she wants Harry to be happy, even if it's not with her. Maybe if you got to know Draco you'd understand. I've said it before but I got it wrong; your emotions can't even fill one quarter of a teaspoon."

He looked baffled. "He called you a Mudblood for most of your life, he pushed you around, he bullied you. He bullied Harry too! And you're just going to forgive him like that? Did he even say sorry?"

"You don't understand what he's been through and how Lucius treated him."

"Oh I understand completely! You're absolutely bonkers!"

Hermione made a move towards him but Ginny stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Let me." She turned to Ron, her brother and with her hands clenched in fists, she spoke. "You don't speak to her like that. I know you have already. Do you even love Hermione? She's an amazing woman. She's strong, intelligent, beautiful, all round amazing! I'll tell you something, Ron. I used to love you, you're my brother but I learned something. I learned that you're not the person that I should look up to because you use people and you get angry when they show their own free will." She took a step forward, eyes fixed on her brother's face. "You've done me wrong too. You've always told me I wasn't good enough for Harry. Harry might not love me back, but I a definitely good enough for him." And then she slapped him, her own brother, so hard that the bruise started showing instantly. "Purple isn't your colour."

She turned back to Harry, Hermione and Draco and breathed a sigh of relief. Ron was too shocked to do anything but stand there and watch his sister walk away. His knees became weak and he collapsed onto them. "Leave me."

"We're done taking orders from you." Hermione spat back at him before ushering everyone else away, back into the tent.

"Fine! You don't want me, then you won't have me. His body shook with rage. He wanted to do something to hurt them all, every single one of them. Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Draco, especially Draco. Draco had started it all, thrown him out. It was Draco's fault and Ron had to do something back, revenge would make him learn. So Ron fled the campsite with nothing but a wand and his own two feet.

Hermione ran her hands through her hair again and Ginny flexed her still burning hand. Both girls were incredibly stressed about the situation but Harry and Draco were different. Sure Harry was upset, but the recent development in Draco's condition overshadowed his cares for Ron.

Draco slipped his hand down his side again brought it back up to his eyes, surveying it closely. No blood, not a drop. Harry smiled giddily. "You're cured, you're better."

"It'll scar, I bet." Draco said twisting his body to get a better view of his side. The cuts had puckered and where dreadful oozing blood had once cascaded from his side, there were great deep red clots. His side felt soothed too. Before he had a burning feeling in his wound like one you'd get from infection; though Draco was sure it wasn't infected, as soon as Lucius had cut the words they had burned, and he had kept them so clean. The words were even easier to read now but at least they'd be easier to hide, no more questions about his bloody robes or bandages. He felt a mixture of relief and contempt wash over him. He was calm for the first time in the months since Lucius had done it.

The four decided sleep was their main course of action and that they'd decide on what their next move was in the morning. They all assumed that Ron would come back during the night. Harry and Draco said their thanks to Professor Snape, who merely looked annoyed at the disturbance, before heading off to their own bed.

"None of what happened last night, thanks," Draco teased, nudging Harry in the side.

"I don't want a repeat of the ending, but the start was nice."

The boys grabbed a pair of cotton pants each and slipped beneath the covers, said their goodnights and drifted quickly off to sleep.

The residents of the tent were woken that morning by the loud screeching of an owl. Hermione reached the owl first quickly identifying it as one that belonged to a student at the school but she couldn't quite put her finger on whose it was. She was relieved to know that someone was alive and sending messages. She unfurled the parchment

_Harry, Hermione and Ron,_

_I hope that you are alright. I haven't seen you guys since Voldemort arrived. I assumed you went to one of the secret rooms. _

_We all got stuck out on the Quidditch pitch with Voldemort. I'm really sorry, Voldemort got Dumbledore and he sacrificed himself for you three. _

_I just wanted to tell you his last words because I know how important it was for you to hear them. He said: it's all written in crystal, you have to trust in that. _

_Just stick together ok? _

_Neville_

This wasn't Neville's owl though. Hermione shook her head; she had failed him before he had even given her the instructions. Ron hated her, she was sure. She hated him too but the thing was that they needed to work together in order to get to safety and plan for the next more.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked innocently from the still dark tent.

"Yeah?"

"Um… where's Ron?"

"Ron?" there was only one place she could think he would be. "After the fight he had stayed outside for a while and came back into the tent."

"No, I thought that too, but it must have been Harry, Draco or Snape because I went to wake him up just before and he's not in his room. I thought he might have come to get the owl. I guess not."

"But if he's not here… Are you sure you checked the whole tent?"

"Hey, have you seen Ron?" Harry called from further in the tent. Draco was latched to his side in a bear hug, looking cosy and half asleep.

"I was just asking Hermione that. I have no idea."

The group stood dumbfounded, thinking of all the possible locations of Ron. It was several minutes before Hermione remembered the letter. "Oh! Here. Neville sent this to us. You should probably read it."

Harry took the note and skimmed through it, Draco lazily reading over his shoulder. Harry's creased brow exploded with realisation and his eyebrows rose. "Written in crystal. He knows about Draco and I? And the things I saw, I mean, that we both saw in the crystal ball?"

"Knew," Draco yawned. "I'm sorry Harry, I got you into the worst position here and I feel like I caused his death."

"It's not your fault." Harry was slowly realising what the letter had contained. His eyes filled with hot tears and they rolled slowly down his cheeks. Dumbledore had been like a father to Harry, the one who was there for him when he needed a father. He had done everything for Harry, including giving his life.

Harry looked down to Draco who's eyes had gone red and started to water. "I always called him a useless old coot but I knew what he meant to you, I respected him too." Draco's voice had begun to crackle but his eyes, now locked on Harry's, were still devoid of falling tears. Harry kissed the saddened Draco on the forehead and squeezed him tighter into his side, hoping that the gesture would provide some sort of comfort.

Snape's voice was the only thing that could break their grip, "I believe your friend Ronald Weasley ran off during the night. My guess is that he headed in the same direction we were going; a boy who depends on people that much is bound to want to be found again." Snape held back the smirk that tickled at his lips. Lies were hard to tell to those so daft, too amusing. "My best advice is that we continue on our path. If we don't find him on the path, he'll know where to find us."

It sounded legitimate enough for Hermione; Ron wasn't a complete idiot, he did have some common sense. She looked around at her friends and found them all staring right back at her, wanting an answer from the next highest in authority. She nodded, "We leave as soon as possible."

The pack-up of the camp took much longer than the set-up. The set-up had taken just a few seconds but packing up was slightly different. Changes of clothes were strewn around the tent, things had been knocked beneath furniture and even though it had only been a day, dust and dirt had started to accumulate around the entrance. Ginny and Hermione swept and dusted, Harry and Draco set to work collecting all the items from around the house and handing them to professor Snape who shrunk them down and put them in a Hermione's small bag that had been charmed with the expansion charm.

Once the tent was clean enough, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, Draco and Snape circled the outside of the tent with their wands raised and balanced lightly in their hands. Then with big sweeping movements, they folded the bigger-on-the-inside tent and stuffed it back into Hermione's bag. "That was much easier with a sixth person," Ginny panted before realising what she had said. She was probably the only one with an undying hate for her brother. "Let's go," she quickly said, attempting to cover up what she had said last.

Snape tossed the bag back to Hermione gently. "Keep your wands out, we might encounter some beasts, it is getting quite late on in the afternoon."

Draco was sure that Snape wished the best for their wellbeing but Harry grew suspicious, Draco could read it on his face. The way Harry raised his eyebrows at Snape, it was the same way he used to raise his eyebrows at Draco when he thought he was up to something. He usually was, just not what Harry thought. It was usually just some plan to attract Harry's attention to him and make sure he knew that he existed. But still, Harry's lack of trust in Snape worried him. "What's up?" Draco asked as they started to walk and fall behind the pack.

"I don't trust him."

"I knew that."

"You asked."

"Can you not be so blunt with me, Harry? Why don't you trust him? Professor Snape has been like a father to me my whole schooling life. Heck, I've loved him more than I could ever love Lucius. Maybe he's known how Lucius has treated me all these years and wanted me to feel wanted. Or maybe he's just a nice guy underneath the armour."

"How Lucius treated you?"

"He hit me sometimes, ignored me a lot but that's not the point. Answer my question."

Harry was shocked but had no choice but to answer Draco's question. "Well he hasn't been so much of a father to me despite knowing who murdered my parents. I know how much he hated my dad and I heard stories from Sirius about Snape hurting my father and all that. Plus Dumbledore told me that he is an ex death eater. There's no such thing. Once a death eater always a death eater!" Harry stopped when he saw Draco's face fall further than it had even fallen. "My turn. What's up?" He said, flicking the question back to Draco.

"Part of what started this all was Lucius having the discussion with my mother and me about becoming a death eater."

It was clear in his mind, and would stay like that for the rest of his life. The light of the day was dimming and the curtains were still wide open. Lucius sat at the desk, a solemn expression on his pale face, his white blonde hair sort of glowing in the last of the daylight, his hands folded on the desk and a wax stamped letter lay flat on the dark mahogany surface. His mother was standing with a matching expression on her face but something was different, she looked sad almost. Not disappointed like usual but actually sad, hurt, and a hint of regret.

Draco had stepped up close to the table expecting to be yelled at but Lucius' face had broken into a smile. "Open it."

So Draco did. The seal was black and Draco knew it all too well, he knew the contents of that letter before he started to read. He was of age; he was ready to become a death eater. He'd wanted it at first, it'd been bred into him, but now he wanted anything else. "No."

And before he knew what was happening he'd been pushed to the ground and kicks were flying into him and obscenities and commands were being yelled at him. "Don't hit your son like that, Lucius!" His mother screeched but she did nothing to help Draco physically.

"You know better than anyone that he's not my son," Lucius yelled with rage speckling his skin transforming it from its usual milky white to a blood red. He turned to his wife and hit her. Draco heard a crack of her jaw but she stayed quiet.

Draco ran from his home that night and made his own way to London with his suitcase and wand.

6


	18. Confessions

"You rejected becoming a death eater?" Confusion, Draco always seemed to wish for the day when he became a death eater. Although he was good at hiding things, such as being gay and liking Harry, that Harry would never have guessed if Draco hadn't told him.

"Yeah. I didn't want to be fighting against you. I mean, I don't want to fight for what I know is wrong, killing all those wizards and witches and muggles. I pretend to hate them all but I don't, it's just what I've been told to say, I know it's wrong and I want to stop them, not you. And chances are, if I was a death eater, my first mission would be to bring you to Voldemort."

Harry was once again taken aback by what Draco had to say. He quickly put 2 and 2 together and pieced together things about Draco's discussion about becoming a death eater. Of course he had said no, what else could he have said to cause all this? And Lucius, being the reliable and faithful death eater that he was, had gotten angry over it; but Harry had never even considered that Lucius had been one to hit his very own son. They'd pranced around like royalty, Lucius and Malfoy; Harry had always hated them both, when really Draco was just hiding the scars and bruises. It was then that Harry concluded that the walk to their next stop was going to be a long and awkward one.

He was correct. They walked well into the night in almost complete silence with only the sounds of the forests to remind them that they were so very far from home. It was just a few hours of sunrise before they decided to set up camp until morning.

Harry rolled over to watch Draco; he always looked so peaceful and happy when he slept, when he lost his usual defensive smirk that hid the psychological and physical scars; but when Harry's eyes locked with the bright blue eyes of Draco, he realised that he wouldn't be watching the boy sleep.

Draco's soft sleepy smile, however, didn't fade but broadened. He'd hoped that Harry would turn over so that he could watch him sleep but he had got an even better deal and now Harry was awake and staring into his eyes. He'd never admit it, even to Harry at this stage, but his eyes were the thing he'd fallen in love with first. On their first meeting, way back in the uniform shop, Draco noticed instantly how innocent and wide they were, how they gleamed with youth and hope. But he didn't see this is Harry's eyes now, they had fallen when their eyes had met.

"Draco, do you remember Oliver Wood?"

He wondered why Harry was asking him this; it was such an odd question to ask, especially seeing as they were on opposing Quidditch teams. "Yeah…" His smile faded a little.

"Well, I don't really know how to say this but when I was in the hospital wing from dehydration and partial starvation after hiding in the Shrieking Shack," he watched Draco as he shuddered at a thought in his head but ignoring his curiosity he went on, "I had this dream. You were in the hospital wing and you led me to this secret room and told me about how you used to date Oliver. I don't know, I just kind of wondered if it was true."

"Me and Wood!" Draco's smile returned and he rolled onto his back, hysterical with laughter that he attempted to keep quite with no prevail. But he snapped to his senses when he saw that Harry wasn't laughing with him. He took a deep breath, "I've only ever been in love with two people in my entire lifetime. One doesn't matter because I loved her before I knew I was gay when I was 9. The second was you, the first boy I fell in love with and the only person I've been in love with since. I may not have shown it at all ever but it is true. The only reason I hid it is because I was scared of losing what little respect I had at this school, I was scared my fa- Lucius would find out and-"

"I remember the first day we met," Harry interrupted, willing Draco away from the topic of Lucius. He snuggled Draco into his bare chest, holding him close enough for him to hear a heartbeat, and kissing him softly where his perfect light hair met his forehead. "I remember how young you were, how your eyes were bluer than the sky and how looking at your hair was like looking into the sun."

He couldn't see his face, but Harry knew that Draco, pressed into his chest, was smiling.

Ron hadn't slept all night; he tossed and turned in his makeshift den with haunted nightmares that crippled his movements. His den was small, just enough room for him to fit inside constructed of branches from a nearby tree and rocks that held it still. His bed was merely the earth and damp leaves and his blanket was non-existent.

The rest of the night had been cold but he'd been running as fast as he could in a direction that no one would think to follow. He had sprinted over the hill near the camp and around behind the cliff where the long corridor had led, then he walked further on, back towards the castle, until morning when he decided to make his second camp. This second camp is where he had been for most of the day.

He was cold, damp, hungry, miserable and still plotting his revenge on his so called friends who had abandoned him so easily. In his eyes, there was only one thing that he could do that could punish them enough to make up for what they had done to him; getting them found by someone unpleasant. Ron tossed up the possibilities; a troll, an ogre, anything mean and vicious that he could easily push in their direction; and then, in the last second, he would swoop in and save their sorry behinds from their unavoidable dooms. Despite his flawless master plan, Ron still needed some time away from the group, but his current camp was hopeless, he'd starve to death before the next sunrise.

His stomach growled noisily, his hands flew to the vibrating muscles, trying to stop their noise; who knew what kind of animals lurked in the forest, even at this time of day. Worry struck him, he couldn't stay awake forever and when the time came to fall asleep, who was going to defend him against the horrors of the forest?

Ron collected what little food he could find and identify throughout the remainder of the daylight. Berries and roots were all he had in hand, and the identifiable ones were hard to come by. He journeyed far from his small home and his time consuming work meant that it was well into the darkness of night before he relocated his home. As he lit a fire and roasted the roots over the crackling embers, Ron wished he had paid more attention in herbology classes. With an almost empty stomach, Ron curled into his den of leaves and branches and watched the fire crackle until it finally stopped glowing before her drifted into an uncomfortable, light sleep.

Ron woke to the sound of branches cracking and the sound of human voices. His eyes darted open but in the darkness of the moonless light, he saw nothing but the silhouette of a man and woman before he was knocked violently in the head sending him into a world of darkness.

He was bleeding heavily again but the concern faded quickly when Harry administered the potion that immediately clotted the blood. "Draco?"

"Mmm?"

"What's going to happen to your mother?" Harry looked into Draco's face, his own face twisting with the thoughts that now crossed his mind. While Draco was hit, there was a whole other world of violence that Narcissa was open to from Lucius.

"Nothing. He loves her. He's only ever hit her twice and he never abuses her. Both time he hit her it was my fault though." Draco watched as Harry's face contorted in disbelief. "You're probably wandering why he hit her, right?" He sighed, knowing that he would have to tell the story from the beginning.

As he recounted the story for the millionth time, tears welled in his eyes and tumbled down his pink cheeks. "I left the house with my suitcase and thought I'd never see them again, that I'd come to school and I'd be safe, but I had nowhere safe to go for the rest of the summer before school started again. So, I wondered around with the little money I had in pocket until I found my way to Gringotts and into the vault with my key. But of course, he had found out that I'd taken a ton of money from the bank and found me where I was staying." He watched Harry's eyes intently searching for more in Draco's, but he was hiding nothing. "He came out of the darkness when I arrived back into my room one night and threw me to the ground, he held me down with his hand on my throat but he kept taking his hand off and letting me breathe before I passed out. That's when he carved the word into my side, while I was gasping for air. He did it with a muggle knife, no enchantments or anything, and he did it slowly." His hand flew to his side which was, although healing and cool, was burning with the pain he had felt when his Lucius has dug the knife into his skin. "I thought he was going to leave after he'd finished but then he sat down next to me like the whole thing hadn't happened and told me that he'd never loved me, that my mother had cheated on him before he was born, that he'd hit her when she found out that she was pregnant but loved her too much to leave. He told me that the only other time he'd hit her was when I refused to become a death eater and dishonoured the family, that he'd broken her jaw but he didn't mean to. That he'd only hit her because he was blinded by his anger for me."

All this time, Draco hadn't said Lucius's name, not even once. It was clear that Draco had lost every ounce of respect or positive feelings towards his fake father and developed the strongest sense of hate. Harry pondered on the likeness between Draco's relationship with Lucius and his own relationship with Voldemort. While Draco hadn't admitted it yet, Harry knew that he wanted Lucius dead; yet, Harry saw this murder more plausible than Voldemort's defeat, and somehow he knew that it must come before his final battle with Voldemort.

4


	19. Separated

The room was dark but somehow the darkness was different to that of the forest. The floor was damp, but not damp like the forest floor; there were no leaves, no moss and no twigs just jagged cobblestone that stuck into his paralysed skin. Ron blinked furiously at the darkness, willing some sort of picture into sight, but nothing came, the room was too dark. The only clues that Ron could gather about his whereabouts were the muffled voices that seemed to come from above him.

"What do we do with him?" asked a croaky male voice.

"I say we kill him," came another male voice, his voice was much huskier than the previous man's. Ron gathered that these were the people who had captured him from the forest. He pushed delicately on the place where his head had been hit with the tips of his fingers. Muggles? They hadn't used magic. But then again, what would muggles want with him?

"Do you have any idea what he's worth?" This was a woman's voice, shrill and quite psychotic. Ron rolled himself onto his stomach and stood so that he could hear more clearly. "This boy can lead us to the prophecy." Harry? Of course? But if these were death eaters or death eater wannabes, then the question was: why did they knock Ron out physically?

There came a grumble of agreement from the croaky man but judging by the lack of reply from the husky voiced man, he was unconvinced that Ron was as important as the woman made him seem. "What makes you think he'll lead us to him? Surely he's not that daft?"

"We'll make a deal." Ron heard the woman say before the click of heals on a stone floor alerted Ron that someone was coming down to him.

He hit the floor just in time, concealing the fact that he had listened to their conversation, as the lock on the door clicked. With a mighty creak, the door swung open and light flooded into the stone room, reflecting off the damp walls and floor. The woman, however, was still a silhouette as she fumbled for the light switch. With her distracted, Ron ran his hand down his thigh and grasped his wand, still in his pocket. The room flooded with even brighter light and the face of the woman was revealed. Ron sat open-mouthed, too shocked to use the wand that now fell feebly from his loose grip. The crazy wide smile and the smooth walnut wand pointed his chest of Bellatrix Lestrange stood before him. She giggled like a child. "Oh, little Weasley," her mouth pouted but her eyes still laughed, "looks like we've caught you. Where are your little friends? Did they leave you?" Bellatrix ran a slender finger down her cheek pretending that a tear ran in its path, her pout got bigger before breaking into an obviously uncontrollable smile.

Ron spat a mouthful of bubbly saliva towards her and pushed himself to a sitting position. "I left them, actually," he snarled.

"Aww, isn't that cute. Little Weasley has a grudge!" A second set of footsteps started on the creaky wooden stairs down to where Ron was held, Bellatrix flicked a curl strand of hair back over her shoulder and called up to the man, "We don't need you, let me handle the boy," Ron watched as the legs, just in his sight at the top of the stairs, turn and clunk back up without a word. "Now, flirting aside, what were you doing all alone?"

In the back of his mind, Ron knew he should be blunt with her and not pass any information across, but something else wanted him to betray his backstabbing friends, "I left them, I told you that." For now, he would be blunt.

"And why is that?" she lowered her wand and walked so gracefully towards him that Ron swore she was flying. She knelt down beside him, stroking his fiery hair, while her hand stretched out and took hold of his wand.

"They betrayed me."

He expected questioning on why he left, he expected torture for his information but as she twirled his wand in her hand she simply said, "We need your help."

It was yet another solid night of travel for the group. It was well into the night and the thin sliver in the sky that was the moon provided little support for their vision. Snape had forbidden them to use their wands to light their surroundings in fear of the animals the lurked concealed in the shadows; he was convinced that if there was no light, then there was no threat of animal attacks. The kids thought differently to their teacher. If Hagrid's magical creature lessons had taught them anything, it was that the animals that were to attack them would hunt at night and regardless of extra light or not, they would be able to find the group. But despite this knowledge, they stayed silent about the matter and blundered through the undergrowth.

Snape had taken the lead in their expedition; Harry had decided on this with the belief that if Snape was in direct sight, he would not try any funny business and if he did, Harry could catch him out. Plus, he was the most experienced fighter and if they accidentally stumbled into a nest of giant spiders or something, they would have a better chance of escaping them alive. Hermione and Ginny walked side by side behind him and Harry and Draco not far behind them, holding hands. The group walked as silently as they possibly could, not uttering a word and obeying Snape with his fear of the creatures of the night.

Their journey was about to come to a close for the night when the snap of twigs and crackle of leaves alerted them to a large animal following close behind in the bushes to their right. As they stopped, so did it, concealing itself in the darkness and falling silent, but when they started to move again, it followed. Draco noticed it first and, realising that the situation needed to be alerted quickly, passed it right onto Hermione, eliminating the time consuming action of notifying Harry first. Harry listened in and watched the girls' eyes widen slightly before Hermione whispered it to Snape who froze in a mad panic.

"Useless," Harry whispered as he motioned for the others to stop. He spun around on his heal and squinted into the darkness.

Ginny patted on Snape's forearm, willing him back to his senses without even the slightest hint of luck. "Harry?" Her worried whimper came out louder than she had expected and her hands gasped at her mouth.

A rustle in the bushes let the teens know that the creature was now advancing again despite the fact that they were not walking. It knew where they were and they knew where it was. They could not see the creature or the bush it was masked by but the increasing volume of rustling leaves indicated that it was creeping closer.

Draco, Hermione and Harry, in the front, had their wand arms stiffened and at the ready while Ginny shook violently at Snape's arm. He stood unmoving and shocked, and the teens knew, with their full knowledge, that he was to be no help at all.

The crunching grew louder and louder until finally the beast broke through the undergrowth and out in front of them, only a few paces before them. The three raised their arms in unison, ready to cast a jinx strong enough to knock the beast out but something held them back. The huge animal was cowering, not poised to pounce upon them, but showing an overwhelming fear.

"Hermione?" Harry whispered, his wand arm still hovering at the ready.

"I don't know. I'm thinking."

Draco lowered his tired arm a little to see the beast more clearly, "The way I see it is if we turn our backs on it, it's going to do one of two things: pounce because we've tricked it or follow us like it was doing before."

"So you're saying if we don't kill it now we can adopt a pet or be killed by it?" Harry murmured.

"I don't want to kill it though." Hermione whined.

"Neither," said Draco who took his eyes off the beast to try read Harry's face but his face was neutral, giving no clue to his position on the matter, "Harry, it's up to you."

"Why me?"

"Just because."

"On three we turn our backs." He watched as Hermione and Draco nodded. "One… Two… Three…"

And as quick as that the three had made their risky decision, turning their backs on the huge beast, to face the backs of Ginny and Snape, to wait for their deaths.

3


	20. Help

Ron was laughing, hands squeezing his stomach tightly. "You must be really desperate," he spluttered through is hiccupping laughs.

Bellatrix pursed her lips tightly; she was not laughing. "The situation is dire," she simply murmured. Obviously, she was embarrassed about needing help from a child, let alone the friend of the boy who lived. Her lips squeezed more tightly together as she waited for the red headed boy to cease his immaturity.

He did not, his laugh had turned silent and his stomach pained but he was still overly amused. His hand ran through his hair, dragging over the skin and he curled into a tighter ball, clutching his stomach. But Bellatrix was tired with his childishness and with her lips still pursed she tapped her wand at him. A luminescent green rope flew towards him, hitting him square in the stomach. This pain was so much different from the burning of the muscles from his laugher, no, this was cold but it burned nonetheless. His face twisted from a grin into a scowl and his eyes watered, not from happiness but from fear and agony.

Bellatrix was stepping closer, her shoes snapping on the cobblestone, "Now, you realise that you must obey us."

"You need my help, it should be the other way around," Ron spat through gritted teeth, "because if I don't do what you say, what are you gonna do? Kill me? Nah. Because then you'll have lost the thing that'll help you. I think you should do what I say, and in return, I'll do what you want me to."

Bellatrix froze, speechless, but lowered her wand, releasing him from her grip. "That's right," Ron spat again, "you just lower your wand and realise what you have to bargain with. I have power over you; you know that, I know that." He paused, giving her some time to reply but when he received none, he continued with his argument, "Now, I'll do what you want if, and only if, you do what I say."

"Fine," came her first blunt reply.

"You tell me who those men upstairs are."

She pondered her orders but when she looked down on Ron's face she saw the power he held and how much she needed him, how much the cause needed him. "Shall we go upstairs," she suggested, staggering over to the bottom stair and proceeding upwards without waiting to see if Ron has decided to follow.

Ron dragged his aching body to the stairwell and pulled himself from the floor onto the first step. The journey from the cellar to the top of the stairs was going to be a long one.

After a painful trip up the flight of stairs Ron found himself in a small room next to a closed wooden door. He heard the three adults in the next room talking in hushed voices. He hauled himself to his feet, leaning on the door for support, and considered his situation. Through this door stood three dangerous people, each twice as good at magic and duelling than him. So, he estimated there were about six of himself beyond this door who were no doubt waiting for him with wands at the ready. Ron ran his fingers down the solid wood of the door with his left hand, with his right he wrapped his hand about his wand and drew it to his side. His left hand wandered down the door frame until it found itself with the door handle enclosed within itself. It turned with a squeal and the door opened with an equally loud screech and slowly, the room ahead of him came into sight. And with the room, came the people; first Bellatrix and then two men who Ron had never encountered in his life.

The two men stood with the same grimace while Bellatrix sat at a table with her usual pursed lip, hands folded in front of her. One man was oily with a balding head, he looked older than Bellatrix and he stared with angry eyes that bore into Ron. The other slouched and his eyes wandered about the room, never quite meeting with any part of Ron's body. He was the youngest of the three, only about 25, Ron assumed. Not one of the three held a wand in their hand, however, Bellatrix's sat on the table.

"Who are they?"

"Death eaters," she grinned at the younger man. "Aren't they cute?"

"What?" She was acting as if they were her pets. She reached out a hand and patted at the younger one's arm, he eyes tracing him up and down

"Death eaters," she said more slowly, her head flicked to Ron and her eyes widened at him as though he was being daft.

"And do they have names?"

"I don't know," she grinned and faced the younger one again, rubbing his shoulder blade. His facial expression changed only slightly, from his grimace to a flushed and almost embarrassed face. "Do you have a name?" She stood with her face close to her pet's neck, breathing into his shirt collar.

"No," the younger man was the owner croaky voice that Ron had listened into beforehand. It was obvious that he feared Bellatrix and was willing to be used by her in order to keep himself alive.

The other man, however, did not show the same fear as the younger man had, yet he still acted as if he were below Bellatrix in the hierarchy. He too supressed his name. Ron decided that out of the three, the youngest was probably the person to trust the most, he seemed too innocent; the oldest was to be trusted the least as he'd said first off without a second thought that they should kill him; but Ron was undecided on whether to place trust in Bellatrix, she was loony and unpredictable.

Bellatrix was giggling again and dancing around the room towards Ron. "Are you gonna tell me what's going on then?" Ron snapped as he watched her twirl. She was almost like a butterfly, a deadly butterfly but a pretty one.

"We need to find Harry Potter," the older man said.

His eyes were locked on Ron but Ron was focused on the flowing silk of Bellatrix's dress as her spinning came to a halt and she stumbled over to him. She placed a finger on his chest and bit her lip. She giggled again, sounding drunk but Ron could smell no alcohol on her breath. "You can help us," her face fell from a smile.

"You were close enough. I was only a day or two away from them."

"That's not our goal, boy. We need to follow his every move without him knowing that we are there, hence, you are to go back into the group and gather information about their whereabouts and their plans unnoticed."

"Why can't you just follow from behind; or for that matter, why not make a polyjuice potion and pretend to be me?"

"Because it runs out, we'd have to keep drinking," said the older man gruffly. As he waddled over to a spare chair it was obvious that one of his legs was a wooden one. Yet even with this new piece of information, this man was so unfamiliar.

Ron's face contorted in deep thought and consideration, he'd wanted to betray his friends before, set a beast on them and then rush in to save the day. But handing them over to Voldemort and the death eaters, that was something that Wormtail would do. Ron squeezed his eyes tightly remembering the hatred he held for his so called friends. He thought of Draco. Draco, the one who'd stolen Harry, lost him Hermione and got his sister to punch him. His fingertips touched the tender bruise that he'd almost forgotten about in the adrenaline of the last few hours. No, he would do this. It was time for him to start standing up for himself, and besides, Draco wasn't going to be a death eater so this was his chance to beat him at something and get him back for everything he'd done to him. "I've always been so selfless, this was the first time I will be selfish," he thought.

Bellatrix leaned in close to him with her eyes open wider than they should be able to open. She was waiting for an answer. She inhaled sharply in anticipation.

"I'll do it."

And with those three words the fate of the wizarding world was tossed into peril.

With eyes shut tight Hermione, Harry, Draco, Ginny and Snape waited for their brutal death.

But, to their relief it never came. Slowly, each one opened their eyes. Draco and Harry side glanced at each other, waiting for the other to turn around first. It was Ginny who worked up the courage to look first, turning on her heal with her eyes still shut tight and then her stunning brown eyes opened and gazed into the darkness through Draco and Hermione's heads.

To her surprise a man now stood where the beast had cowered at their mercy. He was slender and tall with long shaggy black hair that looked as though it hadn't been washed for years. A scar ran down the left side of his face from his temple right down to the corner of his mouth but it had healed quite some time before now. His eyebrows were so long they seemed to poke into his eyes.

She considered the man for a few seconds before running to him with open arms, "Sirius," she hollered.

3


	21. The Dog

He was standing right behind him, the closest thing Harry had to a family but he could do nothing but face away and squeeze his eyes while everyone around him spun on their heel and rushed towards the supposedly dead man. All, that is, except Snape. Even Draco had followed Ginny and Hermione over to Sirius, but Snape just stood glaring at the unkempt man. "It's too soon," he stammered.

"I do realise this Severus, but the children need all the help they can get. I spotted some death eaters on the other side of the valley heading your way. They didn't take the short cut but they're moving fast." Harry heard the voice but could not understand its existence; he'd seen Sirius die with his own two eyes. He'd seen his god-father stumble backwards on his feet before falling, as if in slow motion, backwards. Everything was so clear; the sights, the sounds, the emotions. "Harry?"

Harry's muscles were so stiff that his legs and arms started to shake violently. He flexed his fingers and tried to speak but all that came out was the chattering of his teeth. His breathing was distorted and he barely even heard Draco as he called his name and stood by him. He felt the warmth of an arm slide around his waist and squeeze lightly and he only vaguely acknowledged with that arm pulled him around to face in the other direction. His eyes were fuzzy but as the two images slowly came together, he started to recognise the face before him. The kind face of Sirius Black.

Draco pushed Harry in the square of his back, edging him forward with a soft, encouraging smile. He watched as the glaze over Harry's eyes faded and their shine came back, he felt the boy in his arms stop shaking and saw a smile slowly break over his face. Draco hugged his boyfriend in tightly as a welcome back and pecked his cheek, feeling it's warmth as softness, before pushing the dint of his back just above his pants, sending him on his way.

He was laughing, tingling from Draco's kiss and the excitement of what was happening. "Sirius!" He said nothing more for tears and laughter had taken over his ability to speak, instead he just launched himself into the shaggy man's embrace.

Nothing else mattered; it was Harry, his god-father, his friends and his boyfriend. He felt his childhood return to him, the childhood that he'd never had, and it felt good. His stomach tingled and tickled with butterflies, butterflies that felt huge, colourful and happy. Harry was grinning so wide that the corners of his mouth got stabbing pains, but he didn't care, he'd never stop smiling. His eyes were so full with the happiest of tears that he could feel them though his thick shirt.

Harry was so reluctant to move away but he had to investigate what had happened since the time they had last seen each other. Hesitantly he slid his hands from around Sirius's waist and relaxed his embrace. He looked up with his cheeks rosy from the still cascading tears of happiness and found Sirius's equally damp grey eyes that shone like the moon itself. Harry opened his mouth to speak but another wave of overwhelming happiness swept over him and he was forced to press himself back into his god father's chest with a Cheshire-Cat-like smile.

It was Hermione that eventually asked what Harry had attempted to ask three times without success, "We saw you die in front of our eyes. Care to tell us how you feigned death? It wasn't particularly nice on our part."

"Like you can talk," Draco teased, "You scared Harry and I to death back at the Whomping Willow."

Draco felt Ginny's eyes dart between him and Hermione. Of course, she wasn't there when Hermione was 'dead' or when she explained how she wasn't. But neither of them provided her with an explanation of the events that occurred before she joined them and let her moment of confusion pass. Sirius, however, looked unaffected by this news which caused Draco to suspect that this man had used the same technique of survival as Hermione had used for Bellatrix back at the school. Draco pondered the man; he only knew a few things about him having never met him before. The one was a murderer who was put in Azkaban for 12 years and then he wasn't a murderer and was actually innocent and Harry's god father. It was all too confusing to be able to get a proper grasp on whom and what this man was. Draco studied the man closely, looking him up and down, taking note of his boyfriend who was cuddled into his chest. Sirius. And all of a sudden things clicked. Sirius Black. His mother's maiden name, Bellatrix's maiden name. Technically he was Draco's family too.

Although he would never admit it in a million years, or even more, Sirius Black was the only family that Draco had left too. Perhaps, unlike Harry, he had living parents but Draco had no family that accepted and respected him for not becoming a death eater. This could be Draco's chance at a loving father, even if not biological. But he never admitted it because of Harry. Harry who had no living family who loved him, only Sirius. As much as he wanted the experience of having a father who loved him, he wanted the same for Harry.

His internal debate showed on his face because when his eyes refocused, he found Ginny's eyes studying his intently. Draco lowered his brow quizzically, questioning her in a silent conversation and she raised hers in a way that signalled that she suspected something but wasn't quite sure of the details yet. Her eyes flicked away and the conversation stopped.

With a final squeeze around Harry's middle, Sirius contemplated his answer. "I'm not really sure how to explain," he paused as Snape impatiently clicked his tongue with a certain immaturity what could only be brought out with the memories of his school days. With a slight crease of disapproval in his brow, Sirius went on, "When you saw me hit, saw me fall back, saw my heart stop beating…" He breather heavily and stepped back from Harry, he leaned down to Harry's height and looked into his eyes, "Like your mother's," he muttered.

"You ought to tell them the truth," Snape grumbled.

"Perhaps now is not the time," Sirius didn't take his eyes off Harry's but spoke to the others when he ordered, "Put up the tent, I trust you didn't leave the castle without it.

This all sounded a bit suspicious to Hermione; the fact that Snape and Sirius were talking as if they'd planned this all along, planned it together. She liked the fact that her friends and herself were involved in it less than Snape and Sirius working together. Nevertheless, she put aside her fears and drew the tent from her bag, flicked her wand at it and waited for the others to join in and help. The tent was set up quicker than it had ever been set up before with the addition of another skilled wizard.

While there was still a large hole in the heart of the group with Ron now gone, his absence came with an advantage that was that there was now an extra room. A room for Sirius. And with his sudden arrival, the whole in their hearts shrunk; but it was not filled for they were still anxious about the whereabouts of Ron.

The group, almost a family, sat around the large table and served up their rations discussing that they needed to go hunting and gathering for more supplies. Snape volunteered for the gathering, of course, with the most in depth knowledge of the poisonous and edible plants in the forest. Working on their strongest point, Sirius volunteered to be a hunter with his obvious abilities, Ginny went to gathering because of her reluctance to kill an animal, Hermione saw it best that she hunted too due to her knowledge about the habitats of relevant animals. Harry and Draco were torn, Harry wanting to go hunting because of Sirius and Draco wanting to go gathering because of the same reason. While they both wanted to work together it was obvious that they had to split ways for the day.

"I believe we haven't been properly introduced," Sirius said gesturing towards Draco.

"Draco Malfoy," his hand shot out.

Sirius took the hand and shook it; even after so long in the forest without human contact he remembered to be a gentleman. "Ahh, you're Lucuis's son…"

"No," Draco cut him off, "I am Narcissa's son, I'll have nothing to do with that man."

Sirius's eyebrows rose but then fluttered back into place when he asked, "So you and Harry are in a relationship then?" His face grew excited and hopeful but Draco misinterpreted His expression to be negative rather than positive.

"Yes."

Draco waited for the blow, for the yelling and screaming, but instead he felt Siruis's arms encase his entire body in a hug, dragging him almost all the way off his chair. He wasn't used to this acceptance, at home he'd have been beaten for being gay let alone having Harry Potter as a boyfriend. Unused to hugging, his arms stayed limp at his sides as Sirius's hug got rougher and more loving. He growled playfully before releasing him from his grip, "My godson and my godson in law!" He exclaimed loudly, he wanted to announce it to the world, "I'm so proud, he caught a handsome one too," He added winking at Draco. Draco blushed furiously.

"Enough flirting with my boyfriend," he heard Harry laugh from the other side of him.

"How long have you been together?"

"Only a couple of days but I've loved him since I first set eyes on him," he glanced at Harry smiling subtly.

"You still haven't told us how you got out of there alive," said Hermione as she gulped down the last of her meal and twirling her fork around her fingers.

"Yes," he rubbed both hands through his lengthy hair and dragged them from the base of his hairline, pulling the tousles of hair onto his face. He flicked this back, looking annoyed with the strands that disobeyed his actions, "When I fell back, the attention was turned away from me and I transformed. When you transform it's an alternate life; you have the same memories and motives, the same personality, but one vital difference is that it's another life another source of life and if you practice enough an animagus can put energy and life magic into the animal. You can keep yourself on the brink of death this way, providing that the human form is still alive just a little. Just a heartbeat is enough." He looked around the room and saw the disbelieving eyes of Snape stare back at him, he knew he was lying, but the kids around him all looked up with admiration.

Hermione's voice was airy with respect and high esteem when she next used it, "You are pure genius. She clasped her hands together and squeezed until it hurt to prevent herself from launching her body across the table in Sirius's direction.

"I apparated to the forest without the use of a wand and I've been living here ever since with only the magic that can be achieved wandless," this part of his story was true but he still avoided making eye contact with Severus again.

Suddenly, Hermione was on her feet with five sets of eyes watching her. "I'm off to bed," she stammered as she blushed redder than her ex-boyfriend's hair. She bustled off to her bedroom where she would soon be met with Ginny.

"We're off too," said Harry looking at Draco with a glint in his eye. They too rushed to their room, leaving Ginny, Snape and Sirius to clean up the table.

Sirius gave Ginny clearance to go to her bed and get some shut eye before they set off again in the early morning but she insisted that she stay and help knowing that Hermione would not want to be seen for a little time while she calmed herself. Ginny was more intuitive now that she was older and wiser than she'd ever known herself to be.

She only left Sirius and Snape for her room when absolutely all the work was finished. When she entered, she entered with eyes lowered just in case. To her relief she found that Hermione was fast asleep beneath her covers, she even made the effort to poke her a few times to make sure that she wasn't just feigning sleep.

She changed into clean pyjamas and cozied herself into her bed, wrapping herself tightly in her blanket and extinguished the candle flame with her wand.

He couldn't have been more than four or five days walk away, if what Bellatrix had told him was correct, but it would be even less with the thestral he'd acquired from the house. Of course, he'd have to be rid of it before he met with the others. He'd need to ditch the saddle bag full of food and supplies too and only take what he absolutely needed.

Sure enough, it only took him just over 2 days of travel before he saw their tent set up just half a mile away. Easy enough to walk from here, he thought as he dismounted and bugun to sort his supplies.

With a rough slap on the backside, Ron sent the thestral galloping in the opposite direction and he started towards the tent with only his wand and what he could carry concealed in his pockets.

5


	22. United

**It's really late at night/morning and I go up at 5 this morning so if things are badly written or are comprehensible let me know. Otherwise, enjoy :)**

Ginny was interrupted from her sleep by the sound of Snape and Sirius talking in hushed voices. Sirius's room was next door and even from the point farthest away from their room, where Ginny slept, their voices seemed angry.

Quietly, Ginny pushed herself off the bed so that only her hands and toes were still touching the mattress. She balanced herself like this for a few seconds while she listened to the muffled, wordless voices and waited to see if Hermione would stir from her movement before the slid to the floor beside the bed. She waited once again as Hermione rolled over in their shared bed but didn't wake. She crawled closer to the wall that Sirius and Ginny shared. She leaned in as close as she dared but she didn't dare press her ear to the fabric; however thick it was, it would not disguise the shape of a human head as it pressed into it.

She could just make out the whispered words, "Do you really expect them all to fall for that, Sirius? They may be children but Hermione is the brightest witch of her age and I'd go so far as to say the brightest in the school. She'll certainly figure something is amiss."

"You're the one making it obvious," came Sirius's voice in a gruff return, "Stop eying me up!"

Snape was silent for a while, thinking perhaps, "I'm attempting to help you, Black. I only raise my eyebrows to warn you that you are taking things too far."

"They won't suspect a thing."

"What about Potter? He-"

"His name is Harry, Severus," hissed Sirius as he cut Snape off mid-sentence.

"Harry it your god-son, the only real family he has left. You don't think he'll start asking you about the stories of your miraculous survival? How many believable ones can you think of before you run out?" Sirius wasn't answering a word of this. "How will Harry react when he finds out what you've done and how you got here?"

"He won't know."

"It's only a matter of time before they figure it out for themselves." By the sounds of it, Snape had started pacing. And, even though the amount she could hear was limited, Ginny could tell that Sirius was on the bed as her was tossing and turning, causing the bed sheets to rustle.

"Not if I hide it well."

"You're not even doing that now and it's only the beginning," Ginny leaned a tiny bit closer into the fabric but still avoided touching it at all.

"Did you see anyone actually doubting me, Severus? Did you?"

"No but…"

"Exactly," Sirius snapped quickly.

"What if were to tell them?"

"Careful where you're treading, Snape," Sirius had left the bed and either taken a swing at Snape or tried to grab him because he took a step back and slightly fell into the fabric walls which shivered at his touch. "Do you want me to tell them about what you did?"

"NO!" Severus exclaimed; Ginny heard a slap which she assumed was him slapping his hands over his mouth in surprise at his volume, "No. You can't," he said in a hoarse whisper, "you barely forgave me for it. They won't see it with the same positive light as you did."

"Then they can stick to not knowing either of our secrets."

Snape said now more and neither did Sirius. Ginny waited for Snape to leave, listening carefully for the sound of the material door singing out of the way but it never came. Their room was filled with the noise of rustling sheets momentarily as the two men climbed into bed with each other. Ginny raised an eyebrow quizzically but quickly scampered across the room and slid back into her bed next to Hermione who still did not wake.

She fell asleep slowly, pondering the words that had passed between the two grown men in the room just next to hers. She decided to mull over it when her head was clear when the household awoke.

Ron trod through the forest, stumbling between trees and roots that broke the surface, unused to walking after riding for so long. He stopped momentarily and looked back in the direction that he had come, longing to see Bellatrix happily dancing before him again. When she was truly delighted her dress shimmered like newly minted galleons and she was delighted to hear that he'd betray his friends for he-who-must-not-be-named. He shook the visions from his tired head. Distractions were for later, for now, I must be focused, he thought.

He trudged on with muddy shoes until he reached the tent. It was possibly midmorning and he assumed, judging by the lack of noise, the group had travelled on through the night and decided to sleep through the day. Taking his chance to get his childish revenge, Ron screamed obscenities at the top of his lungs and then listened as several irritated voices emerged from the depths of the tent. He chuckled slightly, amused by their fuming tempers. He decided to cut back on his jerkiness, not entirely but partly, while he settled back into the group. He readied himself with a straight face before the group arrived at the door.

The curtain door flapped to the side and revealed the inside of the tent and seven surprised faces. "Ron? Ron you look terrible," Hermione fussed about him before remembering her anger and jumping back into the safety of the group, out of his reach.

"Not glad to see me then, Hermione?" He sneered evilly at her.

She bluntly answered with, "No."

Something felt wrong to Ron. He was missing some important part of the picture like when you see something out of the corner of your eye but can't quite tell what it is yet. It was the kind of thing that you had to be staring right at to really notice it. He pondered what could cause the wrong feeling as his eyes traced over each of the seven's faces. And then he saw it; a man, so familiar but unfamiliar, daunting and friendly at the same time. His stomach twisted and his heart tore between his fear of the black dog who has almost chewed his leg clean off and the love for the man who was Harry's only true family.

Love was the stronger man in the battle against his fears and Ron found himself smiling at Sirius Black, the man who had supposedly died. Without even thinking about his actions, he yelled, "What happened to your face!?" His finger had risen and was now pointing at the deep scar that almost zigzagged down the side of the head. It was fairly fresh and still healing but it contained no blood or pus, it was clean but open not yet stitched up.

"A life in the wild is what happened," he answered hesitantly with both Snape and Ginny's eyes watching closely. Ginny, however, snapped her eyes away faster than Snape as when Sirius's eyes patrolled the group he scanned over her before locking warily with Snape's eyes.

"What? You're scared of Snape?" Said Ron, for once in his life the reading and interpreting body language of another human correctly. "You used to beat him up in high school. You've changed since I last saw you. You're so wussy."

"W-we swore and oath…" Sirius stammered before realising he'd said too much.

All the eyes of the group were closely monitoring either Snape or Sirius who now stood speechless in front of teenagers. Each man was twice more powerful than each teenager, yet they found themselves unable to attack or flee.

"Inside now," Hermione demanded, using her biggest voice and puffing her chest out slightly as she led them towards the dining table. She sat at the head of the table, acting as if she were sitting in a throne for she did indeed have all the power in the room. Snape and Severus sat before her as if they had been put on trial. "Speak."

Sirius contemplated fleeing in the form of a dog and never returning. It would be all too easy; turn into a dog and make a run for the door and hopefully, everyone would be far too startled to act. He tossed over the idea a few times before coming up with a flaw in his plan: he'd be leaving Harry behind. So his love for his god-son kept his shivering, nervous body in place and in human form. He flexed his hands.

Snape differed from Sirius. While Sirius's fear showed on his face as brightly as the sun on a clear day; Snape's emotions lurked further underneath, hidden by a layer of tough skin. Deep down he feared that his secret would arise to the surface. He knew that it wouldn't be his confession, Sirius would be the one to voice the truth but if the truth had to come out, he wanted to be as far away from everybody as he possibly could be. All these years he'd been cold and cruel to the students with his overwhelming anxiety that led him to fear rejection of any kind. He'd never been closer to Draco and he was slowly gaining the trust of the others; such as Harry, who he'd treated so badly, possibly worse than the others. Even though anxiety was coursing through his veins and ripping through his brain, nothing but his usual bitterness showed on his face.

"Speak!" Hermione demanded again.

"I don't know what to say," Sirius blurted in a shaky voice.

"What is you vow?"

Snape stepped up to the plate, taking over the role of his cowering teammate. "We took an unbreakable vow that demands that we protect this group," he said, carefully selecting his words.

"Hey! You let me storm off and get lost in the forbidden forest, so much for protecting me!"

"There's a prophecy that says that four youthful souls will band together and fight the final battle between good and evil," Sirius contributed.

"Four? But there are five of us," said Harry recounting.

"One dies," said Snape looking up and right into Ron's hard blue eyes. "The prophecy says there are only four warriors in the final battle. We swore to protect four of you

4


	23. Destination

**This is quite possibly my longest chapter and it is a big one. Just a heads up for feels because I had them while writing. Another note should be that I did write quite a majority of this at 4 in the morning one night so excuse me for grammar errors and sentences not making sense. Let me know if you spot some mishaps and whatnot. I'm planning to end this soon so that I can write other fanfics so the next chapters will be intense and full of stuff. Sorry if you read all of this, I'll let you get on with reading now.**

The pack-up was quiet and awkward, unlike the pack-ups that had come before which were loud and frantic. One of the five would die. They'd die even before the final battle, which they all assumed was a battle against Voldemort. Each youngster had become wary of the next regarding the recent news, wondering how the fifth would die; betrayal, accident or capture. Whichever way, death was a certainty.

Ron was the most distrustful of them all, watching their every movement and listening to the little words that fell from their lips. Any information was information that the death eaters could use. As he stepped over to Hermione who held her bag open with her arms outstretched, he read her face. Her eyes bore, stone cold, into his own, reaching for the back of his skull. She read him as he attempted to read her. But as usual, she was a closed book to Ron. But Ron, also as usual, was not a closed book to Hermione. "You're up to something."

Ron's arm muscles tensed which prevented him from dropping the last of his item into her bag, "Am not."

All Hermione had to do was raise an eyebrow and Ron fell into the darkness of panic. His hand flinched and the book he was holding was flung from his grip, missing the bag entirely and falling messily to the ground. Ron didn't even attempt to pick the book up, he simple turned on his heal and tried his hardest to walk steadily in the opposite direction.

Ginny was already by Hermione's side before she could even be called for. Hermione opened her mouth but Ginny was one step ahead, "I know."

Confusion flickered across Hermione's brow, "about what?"

"He's my own brother. You thought I wouldn't notice him acting out of the ordinary?"

"I know he's trying to hide something," Hermione said, her eyes closely watching Ron as he tried to make himself look busy, "I just don't know what."

"Must be something pretty big, I'm surprised he came back to us."

"You did hit him pretty hard," A small smile spread across both the girls' faces.

The smile of Ginny's face faded so quickly that is merely flicked across her face, "I don't think it was that though. I don't think it was anything any of us did. He usually sulks for a bit and then crawls on back because he realizes that without you or his family he has nothing. He still looks like something's wrong."

"Maybe we finally set him off this time and he's just back here for survival." But her face showed that she knew that Ron had some other reason for coming back. He never came back holding a grudge.

"Are you girls working?" Sirius called, a bundle of what was the tent in his arms and a genuine smile reaching from ear to ear. "This is the last of everything anyway."

And with that the group set off again, Sirius taking the lead, Snape by his side. Ginny followed them closely; curious about their relationship which has swung from hatred to a status that she couldn't quite name but was so obviously positive. Hermione was to her left. Ron walked behind her and watched every move they all made but to his disappointment Harry and Draco had taken the rear again. He settled for listening. They walked well into the day before making their first food stop.

While Draco munched on the last of his freshly picked salad, questions swirled around his head. Questions that he'd not had the confidence to ask until now, when his cuts were healing and he felt stronger than ever as a result of the lessening of his blood loss. "Professor, you said you knew who my father was."

Snape paused with his eyes widening slightly, but his facial expression remained more or less the same, "Yes."

Draco quivered with both fear and excitement, any father was better than the one he once had, "Who is it?"

Snape froze; he held his breath and his mouth stayed open, half chewed food onto the ground before him. His eyes were the only part of him that moved at all and they darted from Draco to Sirius frantically.

"Severus, I think it is time." Sirius said softly.

Snape nodded ever so slightly, "Draco, I need you to trust me."

"I trust you," Draco said even though his suspicion and distrust was rising more with each second.

"All these years, from the very first year of school, the very first class I had with you, I treated you more like a son than I did a student. Draco, there's a reason for this." He watched as Draco's eyebrows rose and as Harry reached his arm around the blonde haired boy's waist, "Draco…" He lowered his eyes, "I am."

"What?" Draco spluttered trying to keep his tone of voice low.

"We always wanted a child," Sirius announced.

"What?" Draco and Harry said simultaneously.

"L-let me explain," Snape stammered, "I fell in love with Sirius a long time ago, but we couldn't be together because of our friends. Sirius was the cruellest to me because he was trying to hide the feelings that we both possessed. I grew eyes for a girl; your mother, Harry," He rose his eyes to watch Harry's shoot at him, "we were friends, even after school when Sirius and I settled down with each other, she promised to me that her second born child was to be ours two years before she fell pregnant with you." He took a deep breathe, fighting back the stutters. "And then one day she came to me crying. She couldn't have children, nobody knew why. So I turned to my second best friend, Narcissa who was wed for a long while to a pureblood of the Malfoy family. I knew it was a risk even then but I slept with her all the same. I had not asked Sirius." He stopped; his heart would not take him no further.

Sirius took on the task of finishing the last of the explanation, "Narcissa fell pregnant on the first attempt but within 3 months, before the baby started to show, she confessed to Lucius what she had done. He was angered and she was very lucky not to lose the baby. We decided it best that she kept it as her own rather than pass it back to the real father. Lucius settled on this but only if the baby was blonde haired, otherwise both baby and mother would lose their lives. Or main goal was to keep Narcissa safe as she could not leave Lucius without imminent. Luckily you were born blonde haired."

Draco gazed at Severus with accepting eyes but made no movement to physically show that he accepted him as a father, because he couldn't forgive him for putting his mother's life in so much danger. A life living with that man who had called himself his father had taught him that he was a violent man; even displeasing Lucius made him angry enough to harm an innocent child, so crossing him like this would mean the most painful of deaths. He felt closure in finding out that his father was a kind hearted man and it comforted him to know that his biological father actually loved him but he also loved his mother.

"Draco? Please say something," Severus's eyes were full of anticipation.

"You've always treated me more like a son than Lucius ever did, and you never needed to. You could have lived your life pretending that I wasn't your son; you could have treated me worse than any of the other students. But you didn't. You kept your distance and loved me from afar and I know from experience how hard that is," He squeezed Harry's hand because he couldn't keep his distance from Harry, that's why he'd bullied him all of this time, concealing his feelings from everyone, while he'd loved him overwhelmingly from afar, only letting them show when he was truly alone. "I always loved you more than I ever loved Lucius. I never really knew why. But now I do. Now you are my father, like you've always been, but now we both know it and it's so much better."

Snape was smiling at Draco almost goofily, "Draco-"

"But," Draco went on, "I can't forgive you for putting my mother in so much danger because I love her too. She protected me as best she could but she was terrified of him. I know she agreed to this but you didn't save her, even when you knew how he would react, you put her in danger."

Snape recoiled and or the first time in so long, his facial expression changed. It twisted with agony as his heart wrenched and writhed in his chest, splintering into shards like a mirror, his hopes and dreams carried away as fine dust on the wind. But then, he'd always expected this, from when he told Sirius and their relationship had almost come to a messy, hateful halt. The only thing that kept them together was the dream of a family.

Then, in the silence of the group, Hermione realised something that would tip the world on its head once more. How could the question have only occurred to her now after all this time? Her feet came to an abrupt halt and her face creased with her internal debate. Ask or not ask. She felt a presence move before her and lean closer to her but she blocked out the words that they voiced. The long red hair let her know that it was in fact Ginny staring into her face. She was close to her, so close that Hermione could hear her breathe. She pondered frantically; torn between possibly putting everyone in danger from either a lack of knowledge or too much knowledge. Ask. That was her choice and what she hoped was the right one. She had to know the answer no matter how horrifying the answer was and so did the others; but she suspected that she already knew and that she was the only one to foresee it as far as she knew. She steadied her breath and opened her mouth, leaving it to hand there stupidly for a second before she uttered words, "Where are we going?"

Everyone, apart from Snape who didn't seem to have many facial expressions other than disapproving, looked stunned. Stunned that they had not asked the question yet, stunned that they had not even thought of yet until now, stunned that they'd travelled all this way without knowing a destination.

Sirius shuffled a little on his feet while his eyes wandered around the group of teens but he never let his eyes lock with theirs. He lowered them again as he passed the role over to Snape who look on his role with a puffed out chest in his usual proud manner. "We have been told to take you to Malfoy manor."

"MALFOY MANOR! I've spent all my life trying to get away from that place and you're taking me back."

"You never really got away," Sirius said, talking to his feet.

"What are you even saying? You don't even know," Draco attempted to hold himself steady in his anger by wrapping his arms firmly around Harry's waist. His fingers dug in like and eagle digs it's talons into a mouse. "I'll kill you if you make me go back there."

"It's your home, Draco," Sirius argued.

"Home? I don't think home is a place where you get abused and told that you're not good enough. I don't think home is a place where you can't be the person you actually are without fearing the consequences. Lucius doesn't even know I'm gay! He beat me once for saying that I liked art! I know your next question will be 'What is home if it's not with your family?'," Draco mimicked Sirius sarcastically, "Family are people who you love and they love you in return. It doesn't matter about blood, home is where your family is. And my real family is Harry and Hermione and Ginny and Snape and you now," He eyed off Ron who merely grunted at the fact that he was not mentioned. "I'm not going back. That's it."

Sirius shuffled on his feet again, eyes dropping once more now that he had nothing left to say.

"What about you? What have you got to say for yourself?" Draco snapped in Snape's general direction.

Snape's facial expression had not altered in the slightest during Draco's speech but now that he was being addressed personally, his eyes became sad. Anyone could see that the sadness in his eyes did not only occur on the surface but travelled deep inside them, throughout his entire body. But it wasn't just sadness, it was grief and regret and when he finally worked up the courage to answer the blonde haired boy, the words came out in sobs; sobs that you would never have expected to come from a man who always showed only one emotion without ever letting anything else slip past. "You're the f-fifth. We c-can't save you."

Draco looked into Snape's eyes and saw that it was the truth. His grip on Harry loosened dramatically and so did his grip on reality. He was falling, falling from Harry's grip and falling from his sanity. But he couldn't be sure; was he physically falling or had his limbs just gone numb. He just kept his eyes fixed on Snape as the shock of the revelation sunk in further and further to his core. He was going to die. He wouldn't be able to fight by Harry's side in the final battle. The love that he'd held since the very first glance and the relationship that had barely begun. He'd ruined it by dying. Feeling started coming back to him. Harry's arms were wrapped tightly around him, squeezing him like a snake. Not Slytherin, Draco thought, his insides brightening at his amusement that his boyfriend was being the snake that he fought so desperately not to become.

"Why can't you just protect him like you promised to protect the rest of us?" Harry yelled without meaning to even raise his voice.

"Because the prophecy says that the final battle will and can only be fought by 4 of you, Harry. We can protect all of you but one will die," Sirius walked toward Harry, his eyes soft. He reached out a hand to pat his godson's shoulder but thought better of it, lowering it again.

"Does the prophecy say he has to die or that he just doesn't fight?" Hermione asked.

"One dies," Snape repeats.

Harry clutched Draco at his side. Draco would not be the one to die if he had anything to do with it and he would have something to do with it. But as far as he could tell, they were heading straight for the images in the crystal ball; the Malfoy Manor, fire licking up the sides, turning the stark white marble black, and Draco dragging himself to the front steps, legs broken and bleeding heavily. And there was nobody to save him. His death would be lonely. Harry tightened his grip as Draco started to shiver. Harry somehow knew that he too was thinking about the crystal. And then a worse thought crept into Harry's mind. Neville's letter and Dumbledore's final words: it's all written in crystal. It was going to happen and there was no avoiding it. What little hope remained was now fading fast.

"We can't go," Harry said squeezing Draco again.

Snape opened his mouth to argue against Harry but Draco ducked in first, "It has to happen, we have to go."

"Draco-"

"No Harry," his shaking ceased abruptly and he stood so that his eyes were at level with Harry's. They shimmered with green, reflecting the blue of Draco's own eyes with a dampness of tears. They were soft and as wide and as innocent as the first time he laid eyes upon them, trying on his very first uniform. A single tear rolled from his eyelid and strayed among his eye lashes before gravity slowly took its toll and the droplet rolled down his cheek. Draco's hand came up to Harry's face, cupping his jaw as his thumb gently swept across his face, catching the tear. His thumb lingered on Harry's lips; feeling the softness of them, their warmth. Draco watched Harry's lips as he pouted them slightly at his touch and then raised his own eyes, sticky with tears, back to Harry's and said, "I don't want to lose you and I know you don't want to lose me but believe me when I say that I would and will die fighting for you. I love you."

"Now I'm never letting you go. I can't let you go," Harry squeaked through teary sobs.

"You have to," Draco said equally squeakily before he pressed his lips lightly to Harry's, combining their tears and breathing each other's air.

And then came a woman's voice from the bushes behind them, "Avada Kedavra!" And there was a thud as Severus Snape's limp body fell to the ground.

6


	24. The Final Goodbye

Severus Snape was cold before he even hit the ground. Dead, actually dead. Nobody could fake a death like that. Bellatrix Lestrange had taken them all, even Ron by great surprise. However, Ron's reaction was quite different to the other reactions in the group. In the commotion he simply looked towards Bellatrix, right in her sparkling eyes, with a very slight smile on his face.

Draco was on his knees by Snape's side, calling his name over and over with burning in his eyes. For 10 minutes he'd had a dad, not just a father. For 10 minutes he'd known what it was like to have a family. For 10 minutes he'd felt whole in the first time in his life. The hole in his heart was the absence of a dad, space that couldn't be filled with a father, Snape had filled it for 10 minutes. For 10 minutes he'd known what it was like to have two parents who loved each other; Snape and Black, fathers, HIS fathers.

His tears were like acid that burned through the blue of his eyes, turning them red and bloodshot, and despite the sun on his back, his skin prickled and he fell cold. Loss, grief and depression swept through him like a hurricane rips through a house, destroying his insides and tearing him apart. His senses were lost but he knew that Harry was not by his side.

He called his dad's name again and again, over and over, each time feeling more angry and ruined. He grabbed onto the shoulders of the man, shaking him violently, hitting him to the ground, willing his heart to start again. "Dad," he called once more, his voice breaking, "Dad," his voice had gone, he'd yelled as loud as he could but he didn't reach the land of the dead. He'd lost his family again.

He rose to shaky feet. On unsteady legs he stepped forward, wand raised, tears blurring his vision. He couldn't tell person from person in the blur. He blinked away the tears of grief and replaced them with teardrops of anger. He ran his left arm beneath his nose, wiping away the goo. He could see again. He blinked once more to make sure the tears would not come back to haunt him and cast his first spell.

One of Bellatrix's minions fell onto his back with the blast. The boy was only a few years older than him; Draco smirked at his easy victory as the others lined up beside him. Sirius cast spell after spell, aiming right at and only at Bellatrix, Draco joined him in his battle. For Severus Snape. Draco would avenge him if it killed him and he knew that Sirius was fighting the same war.

Then her face twisted, she knew she was being overpowered, she knew it well. Her eyes opened wide as Draco sent his last shot. But she was quick. In an instant she turned into a black puff of smoke the twisted and turned cruelly. Then, in a spiralling motion, she retreated through the tree, minions hot on her tail.

Sirius started to cry with a wail his mouth open wide. He called Severus's name and stumbled from where he stood towards the body of his lover. He collapsed at his side, grabbing onto the dead man's shirt, pulling it closer and howling. "Please," he begged, "please don't do this. Don't be dead. Please." He dropped his head roughly to Snape's unmoving chest. Uttering never-ending wails and howls, muffled by Snape's flesh, into it.

Draco couldn't loosen his body. His anger swelled like a balloon and he could feel the red like a fire in his cheeks. Tears still prickled at his eyes and it was only when he felt the gentle warmth of Harry's body hugging him from the side that he allowed the tears to fall once more. He turned into Harry and buried his face in the crook where his shoulder and his neck met while Harry's arms pulled him into a tighter embrace.

Harry could feel a pool of water forming on his shoulder and soaking his shirt; but he didn't mind, Draco was important. He squeezed Draco even tighter, to comfort himself as well as comforting Draco. He'd been scared to lose him, scared that he was the one that had been hit. He'd yelled out his name when he heard the body hit the floor but Draco hadn't heard. He snaked one hand behind Draco's neck, playing with his hair and cradling his head. He planted a kiss ever so lightly on the crown of Draco's head, in amongst the light hair. Finally resting his head on Draco's he breathed him in, letting himself escape into his senses.

"We need to keep going," Draco muttered into Harry's shoulder, hugging him back now.

"Not until you're ready."

"I am," He raised his head to look in Harry's wet eyes. "I am," he repeated.

But the others were not. Hermione and Ginny both sat at the feet of the body, silently sobbing. Sirius was a mess; there was no way known that he'd be ready in the next hour or so to start their journey again. "What about you?" Draco whispered to Harry.

"I'm ok," but Draco could see that his boyfriend was in shock. He'd be alright.

Draco kissed the end of his nose which caused Harry to twist his face in confusion. Draco laughed at Harry's expression. He felt some of the weight life from his chest and left a lightness in his heart. Harry returned the giggle and nuzzled his nose into Draco's soft pink cheek.

Draco looked out over the top of Harry's head of silky black hair. He scanned over the three people before him, careful not to look at the body on the ground. His heart sank again, seeing the ruin that the rest of the group was in. He made a quick decision, "We'll bury him." He said.

The body of Severus Snape lay on a bed of firewood, sheltered from the wind under a roof of sticks, barks and leaves in the dimming light of the day. Sirius stepped forward, a single tear on his cheek. He began to speak his last words, "Severus Snape, you were my high school crush. I remember our first kiss," he smiled slightly at the memory, "After a Quidditch match in spring, Gryffindor verses Slytherin, Gryffindor won, James caught the snitch. We met up afterwards, still in our team gear, out in the grounds beneath the blossom tree. Some of them fell of the tree and landed in your hair, I leaned in close and brushed them away. And then I realised that that moment was the right moment. We didn't even plan it, but I leant in and kissed you. Your lips were soft and warm. I knew you liked me. You just didn't know I liked you. And the look on your face! You were so stunned," he giggled softly, "I'll remember that until the day I die and join with you once again in the land beyond death." He sighed, "I'll take care of our son, if he'll let me. I'll look after Harry, I know how much you care about Lilly still, and I still care about James; they'd want us to take care of them." He allowed another few tears to roll from his eyes. A droplet rolled from his cheek and hung off the end of his nose.

Harry came up close to Sirius and rubbed his back, calming him. "Sirius?"

"I'll finish. I have to." Sirius stood up a little taller and took a deep breath, "Severus, I will love you until the end of my days and an eternity after that. I know that we'll meet again but for now I'll have to wait." He raised his wand arm, "Goodbye, my love," he said blowing a last kiss and whispering "incendio," and reducing to tears.

Fire immediately flickered through the wood, lighting the leaves in bright bursts that faded as quickly as they had burst into flames. The fire trickled across the thin branches before they leaped between the wood. It wasn't long until every piece of wood was alight with blazing fire. Snape's face was still visible between the flames but his clothes were catching.

"Let's go," Sirius said. He didn't want to watch the love of his life perish, purged in flames.


	25. Ablaze

**So apparently (according to this thing that's going around) JK Rowling said that Lilly was pregnant with her second child when she died and apparently talked James into making peace with Snape. Who knew. I sort of even wrote that into my fic before I knew haha**

Their pace was much slower now. Instead of their usual silence, they crashed through the forest, breaking branches and knocking rocks from their perches. Scratches appeared on their bodies that they had managed to avoid through all of their previous travelling. Instead of the birds the usually chirped happily, creating the soundtrack for their journey, all that could be head was a raging fire that burned away Severus.

"I'll kill her," Draco said stamping on a stick, "I'll kill her as soon as she shows her face again."

"You can't do it alone, Draco," Ginny called from beside him. Draco stiffened slightly in shock as her hand entwined with his. "You'll always have us." He slowly relaxed into her grip, feeling Harry's arm around his waist, Sirius standing before him with a fond smile and fond eyes and Hermione gripping onto his shoulders from behind. And then he realised it; he was surrounded by a real family. A family that was much better than a biological family; this family was full of love. His spirits were lifted high and his heart fluttered in his chest.

"Uhhh… Guys?" Ron broke the moment and every heart dropped through their chests into their feet when their attention was brought to the advancing wall of fire.

The wall towered over their heads, jumping from tree to tree. The leaves were dry and dead from autumn meaning that every leaf set alight in brilliant puffs. A branch from closer to where they had lay Snape to rest fell to the ground in an almighty crash, sending even more sparks into the air in the crash of the embers. The magical fire was only as loud as a flickering campfire but the damage it was causing was much, much worse. Embers from leaves and falling branches flew into the air and danced with each other in the soft breeze before they twirled towards another dried out tree. The wall advanced quicker each time another tree was set ablaze but the group still stood dumbstruck, staring at the orange flames that devoured the forest just 100 meters away from where they stood. It was only when another branch fell on the border of the line of fire that anyone was snapped back to their senses.

"Hermione?" Harry blurted, automatically turning to Hermione for help. If they were ever in trouble Hermione was always the one to get them out; whether it be with logic or with strength, she was the one who could do it.

Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish and she shook her head in pure shock. "It's too big" she merely stuttered before muttering nonsense beneath her breath.

"Just fucking run!" Ron yelled grabbing the person nearest and dragging them along with him.

Draco violently shook his arm free of Ron's grip, "Get off me!" He yelled.

Ron stopped and turned, blocking Draco and stopping him in his tracks, "I don't actually care at the moment! I want to get out of here! Just be grateful I even told you guys and didn't just run off!" He was spitting, he could see Draco flinch as flecks hit his cheeks. Ron spun on his heel and started to sprint again.

Draco's arm was suddenly dragged forward by Harry as he bolted past him. Draco was jolted forward but his body was moving faster than his legs could take him. His toe scraped the ground. He lost balance and his chest hit the leafy ground. The wind was pushed out of his body. Gasping, unable to call to them, he watched as his new family run at full speed away from the fire, away from him. He rolled onto his back and stared past his feet, taking shuddering gasps, losing oxygen quickly. The fire was close; if he didn't get up, in under a minute he'd be consumed, resting with his father. But he couldn't raise his legs, his arms ached, and he knew that his brain was slowly being starved of oxygen.

Burning was not the most graceful way to pass. He'd scream, his flesh would blister and melt away. Slowly he'd burn. He couldn't bear the pain so in a quick decision his raised his wand to his temple, ready to whisper a spell that would kill him in a flash of green.

Then, out of the smoke that was quickly consuming the forest, a hand reached out and pulled the wand away. And then it slipped beneath the crook of his knees and the other under his shoulder blades. He was lifted from the ground, head lolling back. He couldn't even speak. But slowly he was learning how to breathe again. But with breathing came the scratching of the smoke at his lungs and the wrenching coughs that ripped at his throat.

He gazed up at his saviour and saw the dark bearded face of Sirius Black, deep in concentration, puffing from exertion. He gripped onto him so tightly that Draco was not sure if the man was gripping because of pain or because of love. His cloudy brain could not decipher the signals. He regained control of his neck muscles and craned to see where they were headed. Not far away he recognised the skinny legs of Harry and the fiery hair of Ginny. Ron and Hermione must have been some way in front.

Sirius was an extremely fast runner, strong too. He gained on the four teens in what seemed to be quite a short period of time. As they joined the group, Ron and Hermione came into sight 50 meters ahead. Draco listened carefully to the panting of Sirius. "I'm so, so sorry," He said breathily.

"No need, my son." Son? The words felt strange as the rolled off his tongue, but a good kind of strange, a comforting kind of strange. He cradled Draco in his arms, the boy was light and bony. He felt like a child. He felt like his child. He held him tighter to his chest and pushed on through the smoke. "It shouldn't be too much further now."

And he was right, suddenly the smoke stopped as if there was a wall preventing it from travelling any further. They could see it dancing in magnificent, eerie swirls where it suddenly stopped.

The group stopped, but they dare not cross the boundary for they all knew what lay ahead even though their vision of it was blinded by the thickening black of the smoke.

"Draco, it's up to you. This is your decision to make and yours only," Sirius said looking down into Draco watery blue eyes.

"Uhm…" Draco looked in the direction they were headed. Possibly his worst nightmare and most likely his death. Then he gazed over Sirius's shoulder towards the ever approaching fire. The barrier between the mansion and the forest should keep the fire out. Either way they weren't safe, how could he be expected to choose between unavoidable death and just about certain death? Either way someone was going to die.

And then Harry appeared at his head, brushing the hair out of his eyes. He spoke softly, barely audible over the fire that had finally begun to rise in volume. And while stoking soot and dirt from Draco's pale skin he said, "I love you. I trust you. I'll follow you wherever you go, no matter what." And then he planted a kiss on the cheek he'd been stroking.

"Sirius, I think I can walk," Draco announced, a new wave of confidence flushing through his veins. Sirius lowered him down to the ground. His feet skittered in the leaves for a second before finding a footing. He buckled his legs just in case as Sirius allowed Draco's full body weight from the support of his arms. But strength had swept through him, the kind of strength he'd never known he'd possessed until now, and he knew that strength was his love for Harry.

He puffed out his chest as he drew his hawthorn wand from his pants pocket, holding it by his side. He took a deep breath of smoky air and stepped over the threshold into the fresh air of Lucius and his mother's house. He waited as five bodies passed through the wall, coughing slightly and filling their lungs with smokeless air. But he didn't look back at them, he was staring at the stark white walls of his childhood home and wishing that he'd never had to see it again.

Harry stepped to Draco's side, eyes darting about the alarming marble statues, most of which were surrounded with glimmering ponder that shimmered with the same blue as Draco's eyes. They were exactly as he had seen in the crystal ball. There were huge magical creatures scattered throughout their property; huge dragons hoarding treasure, nursing babies or fighting with other dragons; giant snakes, some entwined with each other or with other statues, some creeping up the sides of the house. And then there were the people. Men and women whom Harry assumed were all family members and were definitely purebloods. Each one was unnerving as the last. Each one so detailed that they seemed real. Harry flicked his eyes between the statues of people, double checking to make sure that they weren't living.

And then one moved.

**You thought I was going to kill Draco, didn't you? The crystal didn't say that did it?**


	26. The Marble Mansion

Her skin was as pale as the marble which she'd been hidden behind. She wore a long white dress that flowed and flickered at her ankles, exposing her bare feet. He blonde hair was almost as white as her dress. The only darkness about her was a blue-ish bruise over her left eye. "Draco?" she breathed with a hushed voice, genuine surprise striking across her face.

"Mum?" Draco was frozen as she seemed to float towards him, "Mum, your eye!" He voice squeaked a little with anger, "He did this, didn't he?"

"Draco," was all that she said.

Then came the crashing that filled their ears and shook through their bodies. "Draco, I thought you said the fire couldn't get through," Ron spat.

Draco tuned on his heel. There was his death, slipping through a few points in the protective wall, seeping through in glowing orange strands. As soon as the house set on fire, what he and Harry had seen in the crystal ball would inevitably come true. His muscles flinched with fear, "Well I guess I'll go down with a fight then. I need to kill that man before he hurts anyone again." Narcissa was close now; Draco raised his hand to her cheek and gently ran his fore finger around the edges of her bruise. "I won't let him hurt you again," he threw his arms around his mother's shoulders and hugged her like he was a child once more.

Harry cleared his throat, slightly. He wanted to move away from the wall but at the same time, he dreaded entering the house. He couldn't bear the sight of Draco so injured and close to death.

"There's one more thing I have to do," Draco said stepping away from his mother. He bit his lip, seeing his confusion. Now or never. He swung his hand back, found Harry's arm and looped his fingers with Harry's. "Mum, I'm gay."

To this Narcissa said nothing but look Harry up and down, her eyes catching on his famous scar.

"Mrs Malfoy?" Harry said.

And then her almost miserable face broke into a smile which she tried to contain. "I've got two sons now, I've always wanted another child," and then she said something that not one member of the group were ready for, "Where is Severus?"

Sirius started to sob, as quietly as he could manage. "Dead," Ron answered coldly, seeing that nobody else was going to answer her. He wanted more than any of the rest of them to get inside that mansion. His impatience was beginning to show. He started to absentmindedly tap his fingers upon his arm in impatience.

Harry squeezed Draco's hand, silently asking if he was ready, silently dreading that he was. Draco's head flicked to Harry, his neck rippling with the force of the turn. He looked right across at Harry and nodded, watching his boyfriend's eyes. Draco led the way, Harry still holding his hand, his mother floating quietly in their wake. Ron marched up to the front lines, eager to enter the house and get this over with.

Harry had never seen an entranceway so grand. He'd always thought that Hogwarts main gates with their sculpted shapes of magical creatures. No, these were much more extravagant. The doors were made of a heavy black marble, swirling with smoke like wisps of deep blue and grey, that rose high above their heads taking a similar height as the Hogwarts doors. It had been carved into a scene, so beautiful and horrific. It was filled with ferocious dragons and giant coiling serpents that twisted and intertwined with one another, perhaps fighting or perhaps dancing with passion. Harry couldn't tell. Then, in the lower third of the left door, there was a smooth space, void of creatures. In the centre of this space, stood a man, wand held high in the air with a straight arm. A thin curl of iridescent blue protruded from his wand. It sparkled with magic. The door handles were just as magnificent. Each one was shiny silver and took the form of the most graceful beautiful dragons. As Harry looked closer he realised that the handles were not made of metal as he'd previously assumed, but were actual dragons that climbed the marble like geckos. They nuzzled each other and played but never once did they move their feet.

Draco was kneeling on the floor before Hermione's bag, hand dug deep inside. His eyebrows creased in concentration as he tried to find what he was looking for. Harry couldn't help but lose himself in the adorableness of Draco when he was deep in concentration. He barely even realised when Draco pulled out an entire chicken and strode towards the dragons. He tossed it between them and without even hesitating they caught it, ripped it in half and scuttled across the dark marble into a hollow in the wall. The doors swung inwards silently.

Harry was ready to storm in by Draco's side without a plan, but any plan that they could have possibly made was destroyed with what they discovered in the high ceilinged marble room on the other side of the door.

Lucius stood in the centre of a darkened entrance room, leaning on a walking stick, elm wand in hand. Shadows fell across his face, highlighting the sourness of his expression. He raised his wand and pointed it right above his head, like the man in the carving of the doorway, and growled, "Incendio." A floating chandelier burst into violent flames, sending light about the room. They could all see how pale his face was, he was almost a ghost. And just below the surface of his piercing, icy blue eyes, Draco could see the madness that had consumed him in the few short months he'd been away.

Draco shifted on his feet and made to move forward but a cold hand gripped lightly around his wrist. Draco peered back into his mother's tired, hurting eyes. They were soft and ever forgiving, "Draco," she warned.

Draco said nothing while his eyes lingered on her bruising. This was never her fault, she'd done her best and Draco could never blame her for wanting to keep herself safe. Lucius had always been too strong for her, in magical and in physical strength. He sighed and turned back towards Lucius, who hadn't moved an inch under the watchful eyes of his friends. "Together," He said, squeezing Harry's hand.

"Together," Harry watched as Draco's muddy shoe swept across the white marble floor in the first step towards his destiny.

The boys were only a few meters away and Lucius had still not budged. "Not only did you cheat on me with a Mudblood, you made a gay one," Lucius spat, his voice sounded nothing like any voice Draco had ever heard come from his mouth in the 17 years that he'd lived with him. Every mouth in the room dropped, excluding both Lucius and Ron. Lucius ignored the silent reaction, "I don't usually fight a girl but-"

"Look what you've done to mum!" Draco screamed, red exploding in his cheeks.

"She deserved it," Lucius said calmly flicking his blond hair back over his shoulder.

And then the first shot was fired, but not but Draco, by Harry. The bolt of red whizzed through the air in a spiralling motion. Sparks flew from it at it flew like a comet straight towards the blond man's stomach. Lucius, however, ricocheted the comet back with his sleight of hand. Draco ducked as the red ball flew just over his head, narrowly missing his golden hair.

The initial shock of the brief meeting and conversation had worn off the group and each member, even Narcissa, begun to fire their own balls of destructive magic towards Lucius. With a small grunt Hermione lunged forward and flicked her wand, freezing Lucius's legs together. While he was unable to move from his position to dodge the spells, he was coping just fine with the kids tedious spell, knowing them right back towards them.

Sirius took a step forward from the back of the firing line, firing what closely resembled a lightning bolt in Lucius's direction and hit him square on his chest with a loud fizz. The smell of burning hair filled the grand hallway as Lucius's caught on fire. He seemed unfazed by his burning hair and once again raised his arm, exactly how he had before, except this time he shouted, "Morsmordre!"

A black smoke rushed from his wand and seeped through the subtle cracks in the skylight overhead. Harry's scar dimly burned as the smoke begun to take the shape of a demonic skull, he knew all too well of the snake that then fell from its jaw and writhed around the skull. He knew all too well what followed. But he was more concerned with what was happening through the still open front doors. He gazed back over his shoulder, past Hermione's frizzy hair, into the garden of statues and exotic plants. A hot breeze confirmed to him his worst fears.

Suddenly he was drawn back into divination class. The room was foggy, but so was him brain, and he stood in the corner facing himself. He watched as the past Harry frantically rubbed at the crystal ball, he watched as a bead of sweat formed on his forehead. A bead of sweat he hadn't noticed at that moment. He watched as he glanced back at Draco, seeing him laugh. His current stomach sank when he saw what he hadn't seen that day. As soon as his eyes left Draco's face and went back to studying his crystal ball, Draco's eyes leapt at him, his past self. Then his face crinkled slowly in the realisation that Harry had seen what he too had seen. Professor Trelawney played her part and Harry saw himself run out of the room. And he saw it again, something he'd not seen before, Draco's face crinkle more and his body rise to leave the room after Harry. Harry realised that it was heartbreak because he knew what Harry had seen and Harry had lied, not caring. Or so he thought.

The foggy world rippled and Harry drifted back to reality with the sharp piercing of shattered glass into his skin. It tore at his fragile arms reminding him of his time in the Chamber of Secrets. He heard Draco's voice calling too him, but it sounded like he was in the distance, yelling from a mountaintop, rather than a few steps away. His scar had stopped burning with a soft heat and had now started sizzling like he'd poured white hot metal down his face. His eyes were barely open to see three dark shadows form in front of him.

With the dark mark overhead, beckoning all death eaters to their very location, the battle of Malfoy Manor begun.

Sirius dragged Harry behind him with one arm and fired shots into the space before him, "You alright Harry?"

"Yeah." Harry scanned over his arms, not too bad. He pulled out a small shard of glass from his arm and brushed a few splinters from his shirt and raised his supple holly wand. He started to fire, fighting side by side with his peers.

"I think it's time I told you how I really survived that last fight, Harry," She sighed with a violent flick of his wand.

"You already told us. It was something to do with animagus powers," Harry grunted as a red fireball flew past his head, almost singeing his left ear.

"I lied."

Harry didn't take his eyes off the unrecognisable death eater before him, "I don't understand," he said, unsure.

"I wasn't even at that fight," from the corner of his eye Harry saw Sirius shake his head in shame, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you. I had other things to do."

"OTHER THINGS TO DO!?" Harry sent a bolt of electricity forward in a violent, angry swing.

"Harry, I was recovering something from your parent's old house… for you."

"What?" Harry's puzzlement sent his aim way off, hitting marble on the roof that clattered to the floor, smashing the railing to the stairway.

"Underneath your old house, before you were born, before they moved," He grunted as his lunged his body forward out of the way of an incoming curse. "They buried a time capsule, I was supposed to give it to you but I never got to it, I got news of the fight that was happening. Dumbledore told me that someone had already taken my place to die in that battle."

"Who was it?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart," he laughed a little. "We jinxed him so that he could copy us under the effects of polyjuice potion."

"You can do that?" Harry asked, sending a handful of curses in the general direction of the death eaters.

One was hit, it coiled over in pain, grasping at its stomach. And then its gloved hand rose to the horrific, skull-like, silver mask and torn it from its face. The dark smoke seemed to evaporate into thin air and the flowing robe disappeared with it, revealing the distinct face of Bellatrix Lestrange. "Ron, my dear boy, come here."

"Ron?" Hermione breathed at her former boyfriend. But he wasn't looking. His sister, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend and his best friend's boyfriend and father all watched in absolute horror as Ron crossed the floor. The world slowed down until everything was barely moving and although there were sounds to be heard the world seemed void of noise. And to make matters even worse Ron turned on his heal, standing in front of the line of death eaters with the wildest grin cursing his face.

5


	27. The Betrayal

"Ron!" Hermione screamed, eyeing Ron's manic smile. "Ron, what are you doing?"

Ron's smile just broadened as Bellatrix Lestrange wrapped her lanky arm around his neck. "He's my boy now," she said roughly patting his shoulder with her arm.

"Ron?" Harry whispered, too far in shock to do anything.

The fighting had paused, no shots were fired; it seemed that the death eaters, too were alarmed at this advancement. Ron took his chance to explain himself. "I'm sorry, Harry. But you kicked me out, sent me off and then I found who I was born to be. I'm a pure blood; I can't hang around with mudbloods. I was destined to be a death eater."

"What are you even saying, Ron?" Harry blinked violently trying to work out if he'd been thrown back into a dream state again.

"Bellatrix SAVED me," He pounded a fist to his chest, taking another step towards Harry and then another and another until Harry could smell his foul breath. "You betrayed me."

"Ron, I didn't do anything. We warned you, we tried to help you, but you wouldn't accept the fact that Draco and I were together. You've never been particularly nice anyway; you've always tried to control Hermione and you've always put her down when she's trying to help. No wonder she broke up with you."

Ron's fist shot up under Harry's neck, pushing upwards. Harry gasped for air as the wind was pushed from his lungs. The red haired boy wrapped his fingers on Harry's throat and squeezed with every ounce of strength he had. Harry felt the crushing of his windpipe as Ron dug his fingers into the soft, delicate flesh.

Draco watched in pure horror as Harry's 12 inch wand skittered from his hand and clattered to the floor. He had no defence apart from his own too hands but the sight of Harry's now blue, oxygen starved lips, he could tell that Harry no longer had the strength to do it. He flicked his wand in his hand, knowing that if he knocked back Ron with a curse or jinx, Harry would be knocked back too, possibly seriously injured. So, considering all of his options, Draco threw himself at Ron. He flew through the air and wrapped his arms firmly around Ron's chest. The two boys fell to the ground, tangled with one another. Draco's head whipped around, causing a painful crick in his neck.

Behind him Harry had fallen to his knees, gasping his neck and willing the air to come back to it. His ragged, heaving gasps echoed through the marble mansion and Draco forgot all about the battle, rushing towards Harry. Looking down into Harry's eyes, he readied himself to comfort him and survey his neck.

Then Draco saw what was happening in the outside world

Fire flew in the door like a bird, it flickered up the sides of the house, turning the stark white instantly black. Harry could see Draco's face drop and then watched as the blonde haired boy twisted to face the death eaters and started the second round of fire.

Ron wiped a globule of blood from his lip and shot his first shot in the battle right towards Harry; the visible light hit his former best friend and knocked him to the ground. Ron watched the bright blue bruising of his work and Harry hit the ground, a smirk broke across his lips.

Draco was furious, face as hot as the flames that were quickly engulfing his childhood home. He turned his full attention to Ron. Lights still soared toward his body but he flicked his wand, bouncing them right back to where they came from. He was more serious than he'd ever been, more hateful than he'd ever been. He occupied his wand with new attacks on Ron. He knocked him back onto the cold, hard marble. Casting more and more spells, forcing his to crawl back until he hit the wall and had nowhere else to go, "No one hurts my boyfriend," he stepped right up close and whispered in Ron's ear, "Say goodbye," his eye brow raised as Ron's lips trembled. "You've had yourtime in the limelight, say your goodbyes."

He poked his wand at Ron violently. Ron muttered something under his breath.

"I didn't hear you," Draco growled. He flicked his wand as final warning.

"Goodbye," Ron said through gritted teeth.

Ron was very obviously scared out of his wits, failing to keep calm, but this would never stop Draco from defending Harry and doing what he had to do. Harry who was doing all he could to save him, Harry who was going to save him even when they were still enemies, Harry who he'd loved more than anyone, Harry who he still loved. "Avada Kedavra."

Ron's eyes stayed open and his body fell still. He didn't even manage a last breath before he fell into darkness. As much as Draco had wanted this, however, nothing stopped his from feeling the overwhelming pang of guilt that followed the murder.

Draco snapped back to the unbelievable reality he was living when the first spell hit his torso. Blinding pain filled him and he grabbed at the area trying to warm the icy feeling that the spell had left behind. He was on his toes now. He moved himself swiftly to his original place by Harry's side, dodging spells on his way across the hall.

"Thanks," he heard Harry whisper. He looked over to Harry, briefly dropping his guard. And then the burning started.

His leg felt as hot as the fire that cascaded inside as it burned, but somehow it felt wet, like some liquid was running down it. He couldn't move it and dare not look down when he saw Harry's reaction.

Harry had swiftly checked over his shoulder so that he did not step on Draco when he leaped backwards. But he soon wished that he hadn't checked at all for Draco's leg was gashed open. He couldn't help but glance back once more. The wound was right on the joint of the knee and opened up when Draco even moved slightly. The entry to the wound was singed, like somebody had sent a fireball at him, but the gash circled his knee and bled dangerously. Harry knew he'd failed, that he couldn't save Draco now, the prophecy had come true and there was no changing the future now that they all knew what was in store.

Suddenly Ginny appeared from the backlines. With her hands slid under Draco's armpit she dragged him back. Harry re positioned himself so that he could protect both Ginny and the now injured Draco.

"Harry!" He heard as Sirius joined him in defence.

"It's too late Sirius, I can't save him."

"Harry! Think about it-"

"I don't have time," Harry said sending a curse back away from him.

"Harry, Ron's dead."

"So what?" And then it hit him with a surge of emotion. One had already died. Hermione, Draco, Ginny, himself. Four.

Harry fought with a new energy, taking out a death eater in a single blow of a weak spell. He felt more powerful than he ever had as the Boy Who Lived. Although he could hear Draco writhing in pain in the background, he was confident that he wouldn't die. Ginny was taking care of him after all. After all of the years that she'd mothered him, Harry now knew that Ginny was a natural mother and overly capable of helping him.

"Draco, you alright?" Harry called back, not daring to take his eyes off the battle.

Harry jumped as Draco's pained voice answered from right beside him. "Yeah, enough to finish this," Draco was barely standing and he looked very light headed; the blood had obviously rushed from his head and he begun to sway a little. His broken and torn leg lay motionless to the side and it was obvious that Draco could do nothing to move it. He leaned heavily on his right leg but somehow kept his posture in its usual formal state.

"Draco?" Harry said, seeing that the blond haired boy had not begun to move or act at all.

"Shhh! The time has to be right," he hissed. Harry couldn't stop his eye from flicking down to the puddle of blood quickly accumulating at Draco's feet. Perhaps it was not a good idea to draw Draco's attention to it, although he was sure that he was used to the sight of large amount considering his scars.

Draco swayed a little more and managed to drowsily murmur "Avada Kedavra" twice before what blood remained in his head rushed away and he fell messily onto his broken leg.

Harry watched two bodies fall but was far more concerned about Draco. "Snape," he yelled but of course, Severus was no longer with them, not longer living. "Draco? Draco?! Please say something. Ginny?" He glanced around and then realised how Draco had escaped her hold. A death eater twice her size had pushed her back, almost against the intruding flames but now his body lie unconscious but breathing at her feet.

Her eyes bulged when she saw the blood trail created by Draco. And her panic rose when she saw Harry curled over his body, staring right at her. She almost dropped her wand as she collapsed. "Sorry, sorry, Harry… you have to understand-"

"Ginny, I know. You were being attacked directly." He felt the heat as the fire leaped from the doorway to the large rug beneath their very feet.

"Aqua Eructo," Hermione squealed as the flames bit at her heels. Her attempts did nothing to stop the violent waves of fire crashing through the marble doors and hopping from flammable object to flammable object. Soon the entire hall was filled with spots of flame.

Harry looked around at the remaining death eaters. Draco had managed to hit only one of his most desired targets. Bellatrix. She, the same as Ron, had collapsed with her eyes still open but hers were wide and full of anger, not fear as Ron's had been. Her quite unnatural position confirmed that she was in fact dead.

Lucius Malfoy stood with the only other conscious death eater that was not his wife. He leaped like a dancer onto the nearest fallen, but alive, accomplice. The other, greasy man grabbed onto two of the others and all five twisted into black smoke. The five rocketed into the sky, this time not slowed by the skylight which was amazingly still intact, save a few cracks.

Harry joined Hermione in dragging the remaining death eaters into a nearby room. Now if they woke up, they would not be able to surprise them. Ginny, Narcissa and Sirius were all occupied with Draco who was fading in and out of feverish unconsciousness. Each one was deep in panic, Ginny more so, blaming herself from his sickness.

"Harry, we have to get out of here. Even if we all tried to hold the fire back, it would still kill us. And someone has to look after Draco. If five of us can't hold it off, then three defiantly won't." Hermione looked at him with her brow creased in concern for everybody's safety, but there was something else behind her eyes. It was grief. Grief for Ron. She may not have loved him, but he was still a friend. No matter how angry she'd been, Hermione could always manage to forgive him but this was the one time that she couldn't.

Harry urged Ginny and Sirius to help Hermione with putting out as much fire as they could. Harry dug his arms beneath Draco's armpits and begun to drag him towards the exit. Draco groaned in immense pain, "No, stop."

"Draco I can't get you out any other way."

"No, it's not that. It's so painful but I have to do this." He flicked Harry away with all the energy he had left, hitting the ground with a painful thud. He tried to free his wand hand which had caught beneath him, violently tugging at it until there was a loud snap. He drew his arm from beneath him with his wand splintered and bent in half. "Damn," Draco muttered dowsily, he was hoping that this was the part of what he saw in the crystal that would not come true. "Go," he said waving his arm at Harry as he begun to pull himself the last 5 meters of the journey.

Harry ran out the main entrance, only glancing back briefly. Draco wasn't going to die after all. It was his pride that left him bleeding on the steps, but he wasn't alone, he'd never been alone. His friends, his family, were right by his side. He smiled as he shouted, "Aqua Eructo," and let the stream of water combine with the other's.

It was done, Draco was on the steps, he looked pained but he also looked triumphed. Harry carried him the rest of the way into the garden, between the ash coloured rubble of what used to be marble statues.

"Hold onto me," Sirius commanded. And they did. A twisting in their stomach's and they were apparated to somewhere safe. Somewhere where they could recover, somewhere where they could help Draco, somewhere where happiness could return to their lived. Somewhere where their family was.

The End

**Hey there. This is the final chapter from Written in Crystal. Thanks for sticking with it if you're still reading :)**

**Also, a thanks to bubblesfreak for proof reading this chapter! **

5


	28. Epilogue

Life had never been the same after the battle in Malfoy Manor. While so much had changed for the worst, even more had changed for the better. Six months had passed since Sirius and Narcissa whisked the kids away, landing on the hidden platform 9 and three quarters.

Dumbledore had of course passed away, so too did Snape and Ron, partly under their hands. The hardest thing Harry had ever had to do, he thought, was telling Ron's family of his death. Conveniently he left out the detail that he had died at Draco's hand, and he knew that he would keep Ron's betrayal a secret from his family into the grave. Draco had notified the school board of Snape's death. He was fine in the room but as soon as the eyes of adults were off him he broke down. Harry had silently held him late into the night as Draco finally managed to mourn the death of a father he's only had briefly.

Sirius, however, fell into months of depression; spending most of his time in his dog form; roaming the streets and parks around his hidden house. He was well on his way to recovery and reintegrated himself back into the family, becoming the new father of not one but two boys that, even though were not his own, he still treated as if they were sons.

After they arrived back Narcissca pleaded to be forgiven, yet there was nothing to forgive. Draco would always consider her his mother, no matter what because he loved her and she loved him.

Hermione and Ginny had both decided it best to live with their own families, leaving Draco and Harry to lay low with each other.

They lived as a family in the Black house.

Every night Harry held his precious Draco in his arms, pressed closely into his bare chest. Draco lay and listened to the sound of Harry's heartbeat, the sound of reality. He leg never had come good but he managed to walk without a cane. He refused to use one anyway, they reminded him too much of Lucius, a face that he did not want to curse his mind. But still through the trauma of what had happened in the past year, Draco knew one thing: his love for Harry was everlasting and he'd always be in his heart no matter what happened to either of them.

"I love you," he muttered into Harry's chest as he drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Harry squeezed him to wake him back up, "I love you too." He smiled, feeling Draco fall back to sleep. He wouldn't be asleep for hours. He'd lay here, feeling Draco's breath, knowing that he was alive. The Boy he loved, the boy he saved, the boy who'd saved him, the boy who he'd never leave. "I love you too," he whispered again.

1


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